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December 5, 2006

News Flash: Some People are Jerks (an account of my four-car pileup on I-5)

I was in an accident this afternoon -- a four-car pileup on I-5 headed south, right before the split for 405 and the Fremont Bridge. Everyone seemed fine, although the girl who seems to have caused the accident was sobbing pretty loud for awhile. I can't really blame her -- it was a dramatic scene, and I would be pretty upset if I'd made a mess like that.

Apparently she told the police officer taking reports that she was talking on her cell phone and didn't notice that traffic in her lane had come to a stop. She tried to swerve to avoid it, rear-ended one car, bumped into my front end, then bounced off to hit another truck. So, three in one blow! Considering how she was knocked around, it's a wonder she wasn't hurt -- airbags probably helped.

Two of the cars looked actually totaled. My car may be fiscally totaled because it doesn't take much body work to add up to more than a 1988 Volvo is worth ... we'll see. We were all towed from the scene. God knows I don't have comprehensive on my car, so with any luck she's insured. If they total it, I probably won't end up with a whole lot -- not enough to buy another car, for sure, so that kind of sucks. On the other hand, it was up to 220K and it was probably a matter of time before something happened to retire it. It may still be drivable with a little work -- hard to tell now because the hood won't open (it sounds like a fan is running into something and everything is basically knocked an inch to the left).

The cops and the road cleanup crew were nice -- I had a chance to talk to them because there was a lot of standing around while the cop took statements (apparently only one police is supposed to take all the reports because insurance attorneys have manipulated manipulated the multi-cop narrative in the past. )

But you know who sucked? The cars who honked while passing us. In particular, one trucker who let off his airhorn for about 90 seconds while he drove past -- I had to put my hands over my ears -- it hurt! One of the cops said he should have pulled him over, and I wish he had. I couldn't believe his lack of compassion. For all he knew, someone had been seriously hurt, and it definitely sucked for all of us involved -- maybe even a little bit more than his having been caught in traffic.

The traffic jam behind us was awful - the accident blocked three of the four lanes. I understand being frustrated, but to take it out on the road workers who are cleaning up, the cops taking statements, and people who were in what was, after all, an accident just seemed like the height of boorishness. (Even if you wanted to target her, the girl who ran into me wasn't being bothered by the airhorn -- she was in her mother's car -- who'd come to pick her up. I know it's easy to hate people who talk on cell phones in their car, but the poor thing looked about 20, and she wasn't getting much sympathy from the cops or the road crew already.)

Anyway, if anyone reading this has ever been tempted to honk at an accident scene while driving by: don't.

Posted by mary at December 5, 2006 10:10 PM

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Posted by: Rich Magahiz at December 6, 2006 3:13 AM

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