Posted by
Steve on Wednesday, November 16, 2011 2:26:53 PM
This has been one of those proverbial bad days. First, after I woke up this morning, I tripped over a bag of toys we are planning to give to Goodwill. I landed on my right knee, but did not sustain any real damage.
Then, on the way to work I got into a traffic accident. I am recording this information so that I can recall all the details of the accident in case I am ever called to remember them. I was driving west bound on US 60 approaching the Mill Ave. Exit. The truck in front of me started to slow, without using his brakes. It took me a time to realize he was slowing down. By the time I realized he was slowing down, I was too close. I slammed on the brakes in a vain attempt to stop hitting the truck. I almost came to a stop before hitting the truck, but failed. I hit his truck just slightly under his bumper. That pushed his bumper into my grill and caused some grill damage. The passenger side quarter panel also sustained some damage by being pulled from its normal location. It looked fine, just not in the normal spot.
The truck in front had a couple of minor gashes to the rubber on the bumper. Otherwise, I could not see any damage to his vehicle. The driver told me he had been coasting and was taking a drink of water when I hit him. The impact pushed his vehicle forward and spilled water all over his windshield.
After I came to a complete stop, I felt an impact from the rear. A white truck hit me in the rear. When I looked at the point of impact, I could not find any damage on my Jeep. The truck that hit me did not show any damage as well. There might have been some damage to the truck or my Jeep, but it was not visible to me when I took a quick look.
After we all pulled to the side of the road, I noticed a fourth vehicle. That fourth vehicle had lots of fluid coming out of it. But, it was a smaller car that hit the truck that hit me. It must have sustained quite some damage to have that much fluid leaking all over the place.
After the Highway Patrol officer gave me a ticket for failing to control my speed, he told me to leave. As I drove away I noticed that I had to use Armstrong Power steering to turn my Jeep. Because of that I took it to an Auto Body shop that I had used in the past. I almost did not make it as the vehicle wanted to overheat. When the auto body shop looked at the Jeep, they noticed that the belt that runs the power steering, cooling and battery had broken. That is why I had so much trouble driving it to the shop.
After I got to work, I reported the accident to my insurance and got a claim number. Because I had not had any accidents in the past two years, I had a rider that gave me a $200 discount on my deductible. I will eat that $200 up on the rental car. But everything will work out well in the end.
The good thing is nobody was injured. People were inconvenienced, but no injuries. I am thankful for that. Sorry about the personal post today, but it was necessary to remember all the details.