Wednesday, March 02, 2005

 

Crash into me

So there I was, sitting in the back of a police car thinking to myself, "how did I get myself into this mess."

Sound like an interesting story? Well, it isn't really.

I was in an accident on Georgia 400 today. Georgia 400 is probably the WORST highway I have ever driven -- and that says a lot since I have lived in southern New England, been in New York City, LA, and driven through Chicago (at rush hour) many times. I was only about 4 miles from home. It was at the first traffic light just south of where I turn onto GA400. I was traveling in the travel lane and the light was red for traffic traveling on GA400. The light turned green for GA400 and since there was a small pickup stopped in the travel lane I changed lanes to the passing lane so I could maintain speed. A semi truck then went through the red light for the cross road. I kept on the accelerator, somewhat ticked at the disregard of the semi (I've called these bastards in before for doing stuff like that). I approached the intersection at a speed near the speed limit of 55mph. Then out of the corner of my eye I see a silver SUV. It keeps coming and I slam my brakes. I thought for sure I'd get my work truck stopped in time. But I was wrong. I hit the car soft enough that my air bag didn't blow but hard enough to bend the bumper back into the driver side tire and possibly even bent the front clip (the "front clip" is the front frame of a car/truck -- I believe I bent it because the plastic guard around the radiator fan, or fan shroud, was touching the fan blades).

The next hour or so was less than fun. No one was seriously hurt. My neck, back, and shoulders hurt but they always hurt. I am also surprised how bad my chest hurts. I had on my seat belt and it did its job for sure but my chest feels funny, almost like I have a chest cold. There is just a slight pain when I breath, maybe like I've been punched there, from where the seat belt caught me and I am sure it will go away in a couple of days -- either that or I am getting a chest cold. I had to call the owners of my company, the project managers for various jobs I was working on, and at least a half dozen other people to clue them into the happenings. The officer filled out the reports and then we waited on tow trucks. It was interesting hearing the lady say to the officer that she didn't see the light because of the semi truck. The officer looked at the lady, who had just been handed a ticket for running a red light, and she said to her, "so you want me to write you a ticket for following to close too?" If it would have been a situation I wasn't involved in I would have laughed out loud right there. For the record, there is no way that this lady's vision was blocked by the semi. The semi turned, the little truck I mentioned before went through the intersection, then I t-boned the silver SUV. She had tons of space between herself and the semi: really, she just spaced out.

So why was I in the back of a police car? Simply, I needed a ride home. I have been in the back of a police car once before. I was 5 years old and the Harrison County police had showed up at my dad's place to pick me up and place me in my mom's custody (growing up was fun). From that one experience I at least remembered that it would be impossible for me to open the door for myself for the inside (yes, I had to ride in back, the front seat was full of computers and stuff). Note: there is very little room in the back seat of a police car.

So how was your day?

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