Bad, Sad Day For The Geekmobile
It was impossible to stop.
Impact was all but assured when the young woman jerked her just purchased SUV out of the alley and into the street about a hundred feet directly in front of my vehicle that was innocently motoring down a street in the Edison Park neighborhood.
Screeching, skidding, shrieking tires from desperate brakes would not change the crumpled destiny that awaited the front end of my 1999 Toyota Camry.
No. No airbags deployed. No one hurt. Very good news.
“Didn’t you hear me honk before I pulled out of the alley?”, the young lady asked, with the seeming implication it was my fault she decided to pull into traffic without looking. As if honking her horn somehow justified her car’s appearance in the middle of the street with oncoming traffic and released her from any responsibility.
“Uh…,” I retorted brilliantly, somewhat shocked by her utterance.
“I believe I had the right of way,” I finally sputtered, trying to stifle the seething anger from her inane query.
Cops finally arrived, took our statements, but issued no tickets despite the position of our vehicles, the laws of physics and the rules of the road.
From the insurance company point of view, the car is totaled.
A sad day.
Crap.
Know what bugs me even more about stories like this? That if you get busted speeding (regardless of wheagain. you were driving too fast for conditions, the speed limits are set too low, about of traffic, etc) for possibly 6mph over you will get slapped with a not insignificant fine. Because you know, breaking an arbitrary speed limit is dangerous and warrants hefty fines and higher insurance premiums.
But I have heard so many stories of people actually crashing or causing accidents and then get fined absolutely nothing! This drives me insane. We pay hundreds for simply breaking a speed limit that otherwise causes zero harm to anyone. Yet those who actually cause damage to other people’s property get hit with nothing?!
I’m sorry this happened. It sucks. I hope the new car can be as enjoyable as this and nothing like this happens again.
no ticket!?!?! That’s freaking great. What’s the point of the cops even showing up?
Geek:
Well the best part is that this beyotch got her brand new SUV f-cked up. Glad you came out of it without any injury. But as the previous owner of an old Toyota, you hate to see an old reliable four wheeled friend meet an early demise.
Nonya,
The cops need to write an accident report for the insurance companies.
Jeff,
Thanks for the kind thoughts. Yeah, I have to admit an emotional attachment to the car–as odd as I know that sounds. But man, Toyota Camry’s are extremely tough and reliable vehicles. I would have driven it until the wheels fell off if I could.
But one thing about the young lady’s SUV. While it did suffer some damage, I got the worst of it. Because the SUV was so much higher off the ground and the impact was essentially the corner of her front bumper, it was pretty mildly damaged–at least compared to the Camry.
Geek:
Hopefully the accident will be seen as not your fault by the insurance companies. So while your rates will stay put, the other driver’s rates will skyrocket (hee hee).
My old Toyota Tercel once tangled with a BMW, driven by some dizzy broad who pulled out in front of me on Marine Drive. My Tercel came away with a minor door dent, while the Beamer was barely driveable on the way to the nearby police station on Addison. Couldn’t stop giggling as I was supplying information for the police report.
Looks like brake dive and high ride height of the SUV kept the greater portion of the damage cosmetic. Take a settlement from the insurance, keep the car and fix it with salvage yard parts. Sure the hood and maybe bumper cover would be different colors unless you’re lucky but the car will be serviceable. Could always get it painted.
I assume something punctured the radiator and that’s why it’s being towed. The damage is so high up that any bending of the core support can be fixed to a functional state with a big hammer and or slide hammer.
Seriously, this car to me appears totaled because of the cost of painting the damaged panels vs. it’s value. If you don’t put it back on the road there is a high chance someone will buy it at the insurance auction and do it.
Sue Sue Sue! Why the heck not?
Ummmm….Mike?
Not to Nit Pick…but I don’t see your city sticker on the vehicle.
Seriously though…glad you are okay.
Do you have any neck or back pain? Are you sure? It can show up after the fact.
Thanks for the thoughts Herbie.
My insurance company agent says it’s a national trend that fewer and fewer tickets are issued to drivers involved in traffic accidents. It seems law enforcement is hesitant to issue violations and prefers to allow the insurance companies to figure it out. These days, tickets are only issued if there is something particularly egregious.
In my case, I don’t think the driver that pulled out in front of me was driving recklessly. I think she’s f-ed up by not being careful before pulling out of the alley onto the street. To be fair, in over 30 years of driving, I’ve done some boneheaded things, which I’m not proud of too.
Sorry about your car. This honking while exiting the alley issue has bothered me for years. People think that by doing this, they can come flying out of an alley. Just think: if a little kid had been riding her bike down the sidewalk (or a person with a hearing impairment was walking across the alley) when this moron came careening out of the alley, the kid could be dead. It is ILLEGAL to come out of an alley without stopping, but I’d say about 75% of Chicagoans think it’s perfectly acceptable as long as you honk your horn. Some have even told me that it is the law and it used to be on the driving test … not true. I have heard it was once a trick question on the test and the answer was False. Idiots. What’s worse is that by honking when exiting an alley, a motorist is sending the message, “stop walking or you’ll get hit” to people WALKING ON THE SIDEWALK, a place that’s supposed to be safe. I’ve lived here 15 years and I have never honked my horn coming out of an alley. All you have to do is slow down and exit the alley slowly.
Arg! Sorry about your car. Glad your ok.
Mike,
Thanks for the kind words.
I honestly go back and forth on the horn honking. I generally HATE horn honking. My wife is always getting on me for not honking when some driver pulls a bonehead move. To my mind, honking the horn for someone’s minor lapse in judgment doesn’t help–it just incites tempers.
So, I an very judicious in my horn honking.
When it comes to horns and alleys, I generally don’t honk.
However, it some cases where there is a LOT of pedestrian traffic in a blind alley entrance (where a building comes right up to the sidewalk), I will sometimes honk while pulling out very slowly.
Pulling out of an alley in Wicker Park daily (from behind where I work) during rush hour, there are so many darn pedestrians with headphones on and walking without looking where they’re going, I would rather honk to be doubly careful than risk hitting someone. Again, I do this rarely and in limited circumstances.
One dumbass riding a bike on the sidewalk nearly slammed into my vehicle despite me inching out of the alley. The nitwit should not have been riding his bike on the sidewalk, but if I had honked, he would have stopped instead of nearly slamming into my car.