Car Accidents

The last accident I was involved in was back in around late December 2004.

I was driving up Old Shell Rd which, at this particular point in the road, was four-lane. Of the two going east, I was in the right lane, about to make the turn onto Stadium Blvd. were my dorm building was. Now, between the intersection I turned off of to get to Old Shell (which is University Blvd.), there are three traffic lights -- , one that pulls into the recreation center, one in front of the Mitchell Center (my campus' convention center sorta thing) and Stadium Blvd. itself.

That night, Andy Roddick and Andre Agassi had shown up to play an exhibition tennis match at the Mitchell Center, so obviously it was a packed house and hence, a packed parking lot. So packed that cars were parked on the sidewalk and in the grass. No big deal right, since there are cops everywhere and can keep an eye on things.

So I pass the first intersection and am closing in on my dorm room, which at this point is roughly 2-300 yards away. Pretty close for a moving vehicle right? Well, it would've been for a moving vehicle anyway, but some guy who so happened to be one of those parked on both the grass and the sidewalk next to the road decided it would be a good idea to pull into the right-hand lane and coincidentally cause me to smash into the rear-end of his van.

I was driving a 1990 Chevy Corsica, his was a....late-90s Voyager, I believe. I slammed on the brakes and, in what ended up being a vain attempt at turning sideways and coming to a halt, managed to cannonball my car into the left corner of his fender. So naturally, I roll the car into the turn lane and get the hell out of the car as it was leaking many fluids.

Had someone been riding with me, my first reaction would've been "Hey, are they okay?" but no one was, so my first reaction was to yell out "What the fuck were you thinking?!" to this guy I'd never met before. Of course, he goes off as well, claiming he had -- and here's the zinger -- full claim to the right-hand lane. I know, right? Dumbass.

A buddy of mine was following me home and saw my car and me getting dangerously within arms reach of this stupid fuck who caused the crash and hurriedly gathered me up and took me away from the offending individual. Long story shortened, my car was totaled, his was relatively fine. A hammer could've fixed it.

Cops deemed it my fault, but his insurance found their insurer to be at fault, so I won in the end. Oh, but this guy's wife was in the van too -- she blamed the whole thing on me, saying I was just a damned college brat who didn't know how to drive. Even my buddy at that point wanted to strangle her.

Jam it back in, in the dark.