Archive for May, 2005

Friday the 13th. Unlucky for some. This Friday the 13th of May was rather unlucky for me. I was involved in a car accident which I have just found out today has meant my car was written off.

I was behind the first car at a set of traffic lights leading from a side road onto a dual carriageway. There are two side roads opposite each other leading onto the same carriageway, both with traffic lights on them. The lights turn green and the cars start to move forward. The car on the opposite side to us leaps forward and cuts off the car in front of me (a Landrover). This meant that he (the Landrover) had to brake hard to avoid hitting him. I saw what was about to happen and broke in time to avoid going into the back of the Landrover (with about a metre to spare).

Unfortunately the car behind me (a Golf) wasn’t paying attention, failed to see the mass of red brake lights and slammed right into the back of my car which shunted me forward into the back of the Landrover (into his tow bar which luckily meant no damage to the Landrover). As a result I got rather bad whiplash which could’ve been a lot worse if I wasn’t wearing my seat belt.

As soon as it happened we all drove over to the other side of the road where there was ample pavement / slip road to park on. I got out and went over and spoke to the Landrover driver and passenger first, who were both male I might add, to see if they were alright (which they were). They thought I had just gone into the back of them and they didnt realise that I was shunted into them. They even said “we thought it was a bit odd because you didnt hit us for a few seconds after we stopped”. So then I went over to the Golf driver (a woman) to see if she was injured. She wasn’t. She hadn’t bothered to get out of her car to see if anyone else was alright and she was the cause of the accident. She was just sat there behind the wheel crying. Now this may sound insensitive, but I don’t care. She was the cause of the accident which could’ve easily been avoided if she kept her distance and had been paying attention. To be perfectly honest when I saw her just sat there crying feeling sorry for herself I really did feel like opening the door, dragging her out and slapping the crap out of her for A) being such a shit driver and B) for not seeing if everyone was alright after it happened and C) for being so selfish because the first words out of her mouth were “he’s going to kill me” (meaning her husband) and not “I’m so sorry”. That ROYALLY fucked me off. I don’t give a shit about what you’re husband’s going to do to you because it can’t be worse than what I want to do to you right now. I held back though. I didn’t even swear. As it turned out her husband (who arrived about 30 mins afterwards) was an alright guy, rather calm and apparently caring.

So after I exerted my immense self control by not allowing myself to give the woman a thrashing I went to my car and started taking down all the details. Now at this point I turned into Mr Notepad! I wrote down EVERYTHING, it was like I was in automatic mode, the time, the conditions, number plates, names, addresses, phone numbers, insurance companies, policy numbers everything! Then I stopped and realised I was shaking. Wierd stuff, I had just been in autopilot for 5 minutes and now my body and mind were synching up and it was odd to say the least.

Then I ring my Dad and tell him that I’ve been in an accident and could he come out to the location. I told him where it was and I should’ve told him that no-one was injured but it was one of those “See you in a min” calls and I wasn’t really thinking.

Then I realised I should call the police (it would seem that I was the only person actually taking control of the situation) so I rang 999 because it seemed to me to be one of those times where ringing 999 seems appropriate. By the way, what constitutes a “999″ call?? There seems to be a void between incidents like mine and blatantly obvious “999″ calls such as muggings / theft. I’ve only ever had to call 999 on three occasions in my life (including this time) and every time I’ve wondered if it warrants a 999 call or a call to the nearest police station.

Anyway, I get through to the “What service do you require” bod and then get put on hold for 20 seconds only to have the phone answered by some dozy sounding woman who sounds like she’s a cleaner in a police station who happened to be walking past the phone when it rang. She asked what was “wrong” (WTF?!) so I informed her of the situation (three vehicles in a road traffic accident on a major junction intersecting a bypass) I wait a second or two and she says “Well what do you want to do about it?” WHAT THE FUCK???! I shit you not. Those were her exact words and I will never forget them until my dying day. No “Is anyone injured?” or “Is there a threat of further incident?”. Is there fuck. SO ERRRM, let me see, I’d like a nice big ice cream with a cherry on top oh and maybe a FUCKING POLICE CAR!! I held back again. “Erm, I’d like police attendance please…”

“I see. Well, is anyone injured?”… “No.” … “Oh well… the police don’t attend damage only car accidents only ones with injuries.” Thanks a lot. Goodbye!

So after some milling about and me lighting a well needed cig the woman’s husband arrives and my dad arrives at the same time. The husband has all her insurance details and I write it all down etc and discuss exactly what happened in thorough detail. I just want to get home and chill out man. So my dad follows me home after I clip my rear license plate onto a random protruding screw. Then began the insurance shizzle which to be honest hasn’t been all that bad. It’s just been inconvenient and a headache.

My car wouldn’t start on the Monday when I needed to get to work (an electrical connection was loose or something because the battery had drained over night (dad had given me a jump start on sunday when i tried it)). So I rang up their insurance company (she had accepted full liability for the incident which was good because by god would she have a lot to deal with if she hadn’t) and they arranged for a hire car the next day and for my car to be taken to a garage for assessment of the repairs. Now the only thing was that the car hire company didn’t have any cars. They only had a van which I had to drive for three days until they arrived last Thursday with (a rather nice I have to admit) brand new Corsa for me to drive around in. I just heard today from the garage that my car is officially “uneconomical to repair” which means it’s a write off and I get a cheque from their insurance company for the value of the car. I’m due to start negotiations for the value of the car tomorrow which should be fun!

I’m alright though, my whiplash is still pretty sore at times, I can’t turn my head quickly without it hurting. But my lawyer is on to that
So tomorrow I have to collect my car from the garage and the salvage is mine (which means I get the value of the parts etc). I’ll miss that car though, it was my “uni car” and it did me well for all those trips up and down the M6 between home and Glasgow as well as driving around Glasgow listening to Baywatch and Christmas music really loud. And Steve leaning over and tooting the car horn! I had such fond memories in that car and I really will miss it. But… all good things must come to an end and so must this entry.

Ta ta!

P.S. The next time anyone tries to tell me women are better drivers than men they’re getting a beating