I just... really hate people.

[Ophbalance]

My wife had to go to Duke today. Not anything out of the ordinary, but today all the kids were home for the holiday here in the states. So all of us (7 in total) loaded up in the van to drop her off at the appointment. The plan being to drop her off, get lunch for them, then head back to get her.

Oh, how I wish it had worked out that way. Instead we got this:



So what happened is this. I40 leads to the Durham Freeway (147). 147 has two lanes, and the exchange off I40 has two lanes. As the merge happens it eventually becomes 3 lanes. I was in the left most lane coming off I40, and looked behind me and merged onto 147's right most lane. However, up about a half mile ahead, was a whole fuckton of blinky flashy police and fire engine lights. NC has a law about moving left to allow personal room to work, so being good little kiddies, ALL the traffic ahead of me (and myself) merged over to the left lane. All of which happened in the first 500 feet off the merge. In addition we all slowed down to a crawl.

I was in that lane for a good 15-30 seconds, pacing along with traffic, when all the cars ahead started to STOP on the road. The puddle coming from the FLAMING FUCKING CAR, having spread downhill across the road, was apparently freaking folks out. The traffic was no big deal to me... just leave space ahead and crawl along. And then, the shit hit the fan.

I see a red streak behind me and realize it's a car coming on way too fast. Given we were crawling along I had my foot on the brake, I let my foot up and puckered up thinking "oh... shit". *SCREEEECH* went his tires, then *WAM*. I unpuckered enough to watch his truck go veering off to the left, while I decided to angle to the right. Not wanting to further muck up the remaining space between the firetrucks and the lane I elected to drive 1/4 a mile down the road and pulled into the grass.

But all that above? That's not actually the suck! Oh no, that part comes when the officer asks me to fill out a witness report as there's a differing opinion about what happened. Y'see, mister distracted driver was claiming that I merged in front of him, and THAT's what happened. Oh, hells fucking no you didn'! EXCEPT, I got lucky. One of the sheriff's saw what happened as well and gave a statement. And the fact that none of the damage left from our cars was anywhere near the middle lane, it was all in the left lane helped as well.

So that's my day. I'm sore as hell and have a headache. My poor van has got some massive metal damage hiding under that plastic bumper cover, and I'm praying that it gets fixed and not totaled out. I still cannot believe that asshat would even think to claim that I was at fault... it just makes me weep. Oh, and he almost rolled his '94 Nissan, nearly sending him and his young son into a world of pain. From what the fire crew told me he had it up on 2 wheels.

[Ophbalance]

Forgot to add, to put one more nail in his coffin, he was cited for "failure to reduce speed". But since I don't feel like fighting his insurance, I'm going through mine. And I expect them to do all the ass reaming for me and recover my deductible (and hopefully my rental charges since I'm going to have to pay $15/day above what my coverage allows to get another van).

[mathnerd]

Oh, man. That sucks. I'm glad you're (mostly) okay though.

[Ophbalance]

Aye. I'm grateful he didn't impact squarely with the back and instead caught it as he went left. He claims to have been going 30 MPH, but given the sheer amount of metal damage (and this car has already had a 30mph rear end crash square on the rear with no where near that amount of damage), I'm thinking it was much closer to 50 MPH when he hit.

[Chromatix]

This is where having a dashcam *and* a tailcam would be handy. A dashcam alone would be enough to hold up your end of the story, but a tailcam would also reveal roughly how fast he was going - and possibly even whether he was on his phone at the time.

[AccountingDrone]

This is where having a dashcam *and* a tailcam would be handy. A dashcam alone would be enough to hold up your end of the story, but a tailcam would also reveal roughly how fast he was going - and possibly even whether he was on his phone at the time.

I have actually been considering getting a pair of cameras on the next vehicle we get [we figure that in about 3 years we will be trading the Momvan for a much newer handicapped accessible small sprinter, and those are NOT cheap, the undercarriage chair lift is something like $US11 000, plus install and adding the manual controls in, and they prefer to do it to more current vehicles so they have a longer lifespan, so something like before Tri-Care chips in around $US50 000. That definitely warrants front and back cams. I am quite a good driver [no moving violations or accidents for over 20 years] but accidents happen [that is why they are called accidents and not on purposes]

[Rock Lobster]

My last accident I stopped at a stop sign and the guy behind me tried to veer left and hit me instead. He said 'I stopped too fast'. At a stop sign. Fortunately were ok and are letting the insurance deal. Glad no serious injuries for you.

[BrenDAnn]

Wow, Rock Lobster... at least the guy that rear-ended me at a stop sign a few years back admitted to not paying attention. Of course, he barely bumped me and didn't really do any damage at all, but still. Ophbalance, I do hope everything works out well for you and your family. Here's hoping for a fairly quick and painless resolution. I'd hope the other driver would learn a lesson but... we all know that isn't going to happen!

[Ophbalance]

My insurance finally got an adjuster out today. They think it'll be 3500. Now I guess we'll see if the shop agrees. I hate dealing with accident aftermaths.

[XCashier]

However, up about a half mile ahead, was a whole fuckton of blinky flashy police and fire engine lights.<snip> ...Y'see, mister distracted driver was claiming that I merged in front of him, and THAT's what happened. Oh, hells fucking no you didn'! EXCEPT, I got lucky. One of the sheriff's saw what happened as well and gave a statement. And the fact that none of the damage left from our cars was anywhere near the middle lane, it was all in the left lane helped as well.

Did he honestly think his lie would hold up when the accident happened with dozens of police in the vicinity?! Makes you wonder about people...

I'm glad you and your family weren't hurt, nor the innocent passenger in the other car. I sure hope insurance takes care of everything.

[drunkenwildmage]

I have actually been considering getting a pair of cameras on the next vehicle we get [we figure that in about 3 years we will be trading the Momvan for a much newer handicapped accessible small sprinter, and those are NOT cheap, the undercarriage chair lift is something like $US11 000, plus install and adding the manual controls in, and they prefer to do it to more current vehicles so they have a longer lifespan, so something like before Tri-Care chips in around $US50 000. That definitely warrants front and back cams. I am quite a good driver [no moving violations or accidents for over 20 years] but accidents happen [that is why they are called accidents and not on purposes]

I used to have a Braun Entervan for my late wife that was nice. It was based on a Chrysler Town and Country, had a ramp coming out the ride side of it instead of a lift and the seats came out of it, so you could drive it from a wheelchair (Which my wife did). The seats where fairly easy to take out, just unplugged the electronics, and you have a couple of handles you pushed down, then you could roll van seat down the ramp and out of the van.



When we got it, it was 5 years old, and had only 16k miles on it, but we still ended up paying around $us29,000 for it.

[Catwoman2965]

I used to have a Braun Entervan for my late wife that was nice. It was based on a Chrysler Town and Country, had a ramp coming out the ride side of it instead of a lift and the seats came out of it, so you could drive it from a wheelchair (Which my wife did). The seats where fairly easy to take out, just unplugged the electronics, and you have a couple of handles you pushed down, then you could roll van seat down the ramp and out of the van.



When we got it, it was 5 years old, and had only 16k miles on it, but we still ended up paying around $us29,000 for it.

Yup. they are pricy. My mom has a Braun car topper, and hand controls, but her topper has been non-functioning for a month or more. They think it needs a new wiring harness, but the one they ordered, didn't work. So a second one was ordered, but if that doesn't fix it, she's going for a new one. She originally thought that it would be double what it actually is, and hers is a good 15 years old.

She was afraid, early on, they didnt' make them anymore, and she'd have to go with a van, etc. which is way more than just replacing what she has. Thankfully even at age 78 she can still transfer in and out of her chair to the car. But who knows what the future will bring? But they still do, although a new one would be 4 weeks as they custom build them.

[Anakah]

I'm glad you had a witness what an asshat! I hope everything works out. Usually really shitty things have to happen for something good.

Two years ago I was at a stop light and it was red and some jerk hit me from behind and then took off. Long story short he turned himself in to his parole officer the following day and I used the money from the wreck for a down payment on a house. I hope something good comes out of this for you too.

[Ophbalance]

So, minor update. My lower back is, in a few words, fucked up. The local quack put me on some muscle relaxants. However, I would presume it should be feeling better and not worse by now. Oh, this is going to be some fun times. :P

The van goes in to get its boo boo fixed in a week. As it stands the damage claim is at 50% of the vehicle price. I apparently only need to worry if it climbs above 70%. So here's hoping there's not much hidden under that quarter panel. Oh, and my insurance wants the panel pulled and punched out. No replacement for the sheet metal. Bastards.

[sstabeler]

actually, it might be a good thing- a new panel is not cheap. If they are as good as the place that fixed my mother's car when someone crashed into it, then it'll still be as good as it was before the accident.