I’ve had a crazy week and I haven’t had time to make a post about this until now.
My parents were in town so my mother could get some medical testing done. She’s fine, fortunately, but will have to have some minor surgery in a month or so. Anyway, they were staying with some friends of theirs in Highlands Ranch (south of Denver) and invited me over for dinner. After dinner, I left for home. I didn’t get very far.
Basically, a high-school-aged guy in a Chevy Sonic made a bad decision on when he should make a left turn. I was going around 40 when I nailed his rear passenger corner and he was spun around pretty bad. My airbag deployed, and so did his side airbags. We were both wearing our seatbelts, so we both walked away.
This picture does not do justice to how completely rekt his car is at this point. After the crash, the police asked him to move it, and I have never heard a car make that kind of screaming noise as it was moved. Meanwhile, my car started, runs, and still drives like there’s nothing mechanically wrong. There was a whole lot of fluid coming from mine, but it was all washer fluid because the tank was destroyed. Modern day crash protection is awesome.
I’ve never before been in an airbag crash. I’d like to never do it again please. This is the extent of my injuries, which were caused by the airbag. It’s pretty minor, but if you’re squeamish, don’t look.
It was the most violent crash I’ve ever been in, and I’ve had my fair share of them in my 26 years of licensed driving. This is my third run in with teenage guys who just had to turn left right freaking meow, but at least this one had insurance.
He was very apologetic after the crash. He knew he messed up, and he was the one who was ticketed. I’m not really mad or anything, just relieved that no one was seriously hurt.
I spoke with my insurance to get the claim process started, and the rep said it came up as probable total. No shock. It’s a five year old Kia. It’s worth about tree-fiddy. Canadian. I have gap coverage, and it’ll be used.
So, how do I feel?
It was a good car to me, but it was just a car. I bought it because I needed a bigger car and also used it to get out of the Fiat, so it was more of a tool to try to drag myself out of my poor financial choices. But it was thoroughly beige. It was pretty to look at, though. And now that I have a company vehicle, it was barely driven and I had no real place to park it anymore. Plus, we now have a much nicer Hyundai Elantra Limited that I can use on the weekends if I drive my partner to work, so I’m not likely to be replacing it anytime soon. Assuming it is totalled, I’ll just go without a car for the first time since I was a teenager, which was around the time when Lincoln was president. If I get anything at all, it’ll be a cheapish pickup truck. But I’m looking forward to being able to put that not-insignificant amount of money toward our debt instead, so I doubt I’m gonna get a replacement.
To all the young’uns of Oppo: WEAR YOUR SEATBELT. I don’t wanna hear any bullshit. This kid would have been catastrophically injured if he wasn’t wearing his. Most of you at one point are going to make a bad decision behind the wheel, not because you’re a bad driver but because you’re human. I don’t want you to die, or have your life tragically altered because of one bad decision.
EDIT: the pic of my car makes it look like my tire is bald, but it’s not. You can see it better in this pic.
The flash just washed out the tread.