Sunday, September 24, 2006

No More Sunday Drives

This afternoon we were on our way to go for a hike and a quick visit to Octoberfest at Bear Mountain when a few blocks from the house, a man ran a red light, hit us directly on my side of my door. He tried to flee, scraping the whole length of my car, lost control of this vehicle and drove directly into a nearby house at a high rate of speed. Joel and I are okay. We were wearing seat belts, moving slowly through a green light. My head hit the window beside me, but I don't even have a bump. The other man is okay. No one in the house was injured, and their house is still structurally sound. None of the kids playing nearby on the sidewalk were injured.

Unfortunately for me, my car is completely totalled. The other driver is an undocumented immigrant, with no license, no insurance, no ID of any kind on him, and as of yet, no proof of ownership of the car, which has Tennesse plates. Ironically, I worked for months on a piece about illegal immigrant drivers, and I know I have very little recourse or likelihood of ever getting compensated.

I'm not angry, all I can think about is how this man will almost certainly be deported, about the desperate situation his family must be in now. Joel says "Fuck the other guy!" and says he's "feeling Republican today." He just pretended to be an elephant. It was funny.

What this means for me is that my parents are helping me to get into a safe, new, four-wheel drive vehicle. No more Nannymobile, no more Toyota with an attitude problem, just high no interest debt to my parents. It could be worse. I am going to crawl back under the covers now.

Hate this.

10 comments:

Becky said...

Oh, Angie, I'm so sorry to hear about the accident, and that your car is totalled. That really sucks. :-(

Anonymous said...

First of all, I am really, truly sorry that this happened to you, and I'm incredibly glad to hear that you weren't hurt.

However, the fact that:
(1) the guy is guilty of an attempted (albeit failed) hit and run;
(2) he could've potentially killed children that were playing nearby; and
(3) he was in a car that may or may not be stolen...
All of those things make me agree 100% with Joel in his "fuck the other guy" stance. It's not a Republican thing. I'm honestly sorry if his family also gets deported, but that dude is a tool. Good riddance.

You know, not to sound like a commercial, but all Subaru's come with 4-wheel drive and have excellent safety ratings. I think I read last year that they were on the verge of releasing a hybrid model, too. Could be worth investigating. We're a pure Subaru household here. I drive an Outback Sport and Dave drives a Tribeca. We love them.

Chunky Photojournalist Barbie said...

Yeah... I know. He's definitely the Jackass of the Month. Joel is lobbying hard for a Suzuki. I like the Toyota Matrix.

Anonymous said...

Angie so glad to hear you and Joel are OK... I know how frustrating accidents can be and you're story really takes the cake!

Anonymous said...

That sucks!!!

Glad you are both OK!

It's pretty hard to have sympathy for someone who drives with no insurance or license, runs red lights, and leaves the scene of an accident (or tries to). Illegal immigrant or not, good riddance. Tough luck for him and maybe his family, but he has nobody to blame but himself.

Doesn't your own insurance have a line item for uninsured drivers?

Anonymous said...

YIKES. I'm so glad to hear that no one was hurt. And I'm so sorry to hear that your car is totaled. How scary. Nothing like a car accident to put your life into perspective.

I'm with Cindy on the Subaru. :) I love my Outback now, but I really loved my legacy wagon that I had in college.

But the Matrix looks awesome too.

Let us know if there's anything we can do to help.

Anonymous said...

AH. Oh my god, you and the car karma -- am glad you're OK...

Unknown said...

Aaaaaah! Do you guys have a target hovering above your heads or something?
Am very glad to hear you guys are okay, and sorry about the car.
But very glad you're alright. Scary. Ugh.

Anonymous said...

Subarus are great, although I've never driven one. I'm a Honda fan but I could see buying a Subaru especially living in the Northeast - AWD rocks.

My brother has a crazy Subaru Impreza STI - it's like a race car.

Anonymous said...

HOLY CRAP. I'm so glad you're okay.

Car-wise: I just bought the new Civic and I lovelovelove it.