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January 10, 2005

A Good Day for Accidents

As I left work on Friday I noticed it was foggy. I got in my car and told myself, "Be on guard." In this area fog, and every other weather condition besides partly cloudy, means its a great day for accidents. But since I left early the traffic was fairly light. I was only a few miles from home when I saw my first accident. This time, unlike usual, I saw the accident happen.
Normally I'll drive by a single car with a smashed front end sitting on the side of the road or minivan lying on its roof at the end of an on-ramp. Sometimes I see two or more cars pulled to the side, sometimes the fresher accidents still block the roadway, but they don't perplex me quite as much. Two cars or more: one car hit another one. One car: was someone trying to collect insurance money?
This past Friday, however, I saw the accident happen. I knew the sequence of events.

I looked over just as a semi, having changed lanes, collided with a van.
Somehow the front bumper of the van and the back step of the semi - the one kids step up on so they can get onto the truck to write "Wash Me" on the back door - caught each other and the semi began dragging the van down the highway. The back wheels of the van swerved back and forth across the lane; somewhat like an animal moving its tail. It was less eratic than a dog's tail wagging, but more erratic than a fish doing whatever it does with its tail.
It looked to me that the driver of the van stepped on the brakes, because smoke came out from the back wheels - the ones that touched the ground. The front right tire, the one on the side conjoined to the semi trailer, at least, failed to meet the road. I was close enough to see that clearly.
Then with a wild wag, like a my dogs do when they see food (or cat poo), the semi threw the van to the side of the road. It tossed the van into the guard rail like I do with my banana peels (and sometimes apple cores. But never litter, only organic matter) - I'm done with you! - and I continue driving.
The semi's not stopping. I wonder if he even knows he hit that van. Maybe he does but doesn't want to hear it from his boss. I bet truckers really get an earful when they hit someone. "We sent you to A-1 Best Driving School, didn't you learn anything?" Bosses always like to yell. -- Oh. There. He's stopping.

Then I thought about it. So many people had seen the accident, someone could finger the semi. If he drove off he'd get in worse trouble. They must teach them to stop at truck driver school.

I've been in a couple car accidents myself. One in particular stands out right now. It wasn't a very serious one. My mom crashed into a car in a parking lot. A parked car.
She stopped in a gas station - one of those big ones in the middle of nowhere. The kind with a western gear store attached so it demands a huge gravel parking lot. Backing out of her spot in the front row cars parked along the side of the building she didn't see a second row of cars. I didn't see one from the back seat either, but I wasn't looking.
There wasn't really a second row of cars anyway, just a single car parked in the middle of the gravel lot. It was parked just right. So my mom could back up and hit it totally perpendicularly. Her bumper able to press its entire being across both doors of the sedan.
"Oh my God!" My mom's standard answer to any event. "What was that?"
"You just hit a car."
"Oh my God! I didn't see it."
"Well it's there."
"I hope no one is hurt." she went out to check.
There was no on in the car. No one in the parking lot. Anywhere.
She went into the gas station/western gear store and looked for the car's owner. About ten minutes later she walked back to the car, distraught. "There was no one in the store. I went through every aisle."
"Did you ask the cashier if it was their car?"
"No. Good idea. I'll check." She went back into the store and came out about five minutes later. "I had the cashier announce it over the intercom and no one answered."
"Well then, let's go."
"I can't just leave."
"Sure you can. The car doesn't belong to anyone."

I almost had her convinced she could flee the scene when a woman walked out of the store. My mom saw her and jumped out of the car. "Is that your car?" sha asked pointing toward the sedan she had hit some 20 minutes prior.
"Yeah."
"I'm sorry. I backed into it."
"Where?" the woman asked.
"Right here." My mom pointed to the point of impact, a huge dent across most of the side of the car. It was pretty bad. It looked like both passenger side doors no longer opened.
"Where?"
"This dent here." Wasn't it obvious? Hello. The big dent across the side of your car?
"Oh, no. It was like that already."

My mom got back into the car and we drove off puzzled. "You crashed into that car that hard and it didn't do anything?"
"What are the odds I'd hit a car in the exact spot someone else did already? You know you that means you don't have to tell dad about this."

Posted by calculatoronfire at January 10, 2005 01:00 PM

Comments

Did the semi just keep going? I tell you what, some of those semi-drivers are reckless. I had one make a right hand turn on a red light as I was entering the intersection on a green. What an ass.

Posted by: Malnurtured Snay at January 10, 2005 02:47 PM

I heard trucking companies weren't getting enough truckers to sign up so they were going around Ireland recruiting drivers there because they spoke English.
Maybe the Irish truck drivers are the ones causing problems. Maybe they find driving a semi on the right side of the road to be an all-consuming task.
Having all their attention required there they just don't have time to pay attention to details like other cars, red lights, etc.

Or maybe they just don't give a shit, high on yellowjackets and cocaine cut with too much drain cleaner they just want to take you down!

Posted by: brian at January 10, 2005 02:55 PM

Yes, I know those good accident days well. Particularly while I was living in Seattle and durring the very few occasions that it snowed. People in Seattle are just itching to try out the four wheel drive on their brand new suv's and they think that having fwd means you can just drive on the snow as you a completely insane person would drive on a dry sunny day. Needless to say this hardly ever ends well for anyone.

Posted by: anna at January 10, 2005 11:53 PM

It snows every year in Ohio. -- Every year! Got that, Ohio? Get used to it. -- But every time it snowed I would see cars scattered everywhere. See them gliding through intersections. See them spinning their tires at intersections, stepping harder on the gas. Then harder. And not just kids driving in snow for the first time in their life, old folks that should definitely know better (unfortunately unbridled consumption of Budweiser and NASCAR must have negative a negative affect on the brain).

I guess that's why if they get more than 4 inches of snow it's illegal to drive if it's not an emergency.

Still there they can drive in the rain. Here rain = 40 mph on the interstate. Come on, it's rain!
A nice sunny day = sunday drive speed.
Fog = 85 mph. I guess so you can really tell if you hit something.

Posted by: brian at January 11, 2005 10:53 AM