The Accident

May 2 I said it was the "Summer of Vicki"
(from Seinfeld where George plans the Summer of George). The next day I travelled on the 427, the Gardiner, the DVP, the 401 in heavy traffic and lighter traffic. But I got nailed at Don Mills and Sheppard. That's life isn't it!

Our family car is a write off and we are very sad to lose it - I don't know what we will be offered for it but I know that we won't get what it is worth because it was in great condition. I put the pictures up for the friend we bought the car from - he babied it for years so even after our high mileage for the past two years it only had 89,000 on it.

I was coming through a green westbound on Sheppard and was behind two people turning right. As the second car turned, I proceeded to go through the intersection - as I enter it I see a car turning left suddenly accelerate to make his turn. I veered as far to the right as I could and for a split second I thought he was going to miss me - I think I assumed he was going to stop a lot faster than he did. Anyhow, the hit was hard but luckily the first hit was absorbed mostly by the tire and the body ahead of the passenger side. I have no idea how people do such smart things in split seconds. All I had time for was "Oh shit!" and a quick jerk to the right. I got out pretty angry because I assumed that this was an idiot who thought he could beat me - but the other driver was very shocked and stunned so I felt bad. He's turning 20, driving his dad's car and was very nervous because he didn't know what to do. I was upset and really shaken because it was a hard hit and I knew the car was probably not going to be fixed when I saw the damage to the wheel and body. But I helped him through it and was as kind as I could be. At least he didn't try to snow the police at the reporting center and took responsibility. Before we exchanged informaton he said "I'm still trying to figure out what happened". I'm pretty sure he assumed I was turning right and just didn't expect me to be going straight through. I feel badly for him because his insurance is going to really take a hit.

Of course it is very good that no one was injured and other than a few sore muscles for the next few days I really am lucky. The other driver noted that it was good we were going slow - it didn't feel slow too me - I was thrown towards the passenger seat and whipped back so it was scary for a brief moment.

I was pretty upset Thursday night ( at one point in the reporting center I thought I would cry but I refuse to cry over stupid things like this - especially in front of a bunch of cops) and Friday I was still pretty shook up even as a passenger (well with Cliff maybe that is fair!). But I nervously got back into the other car to drive on Saturday.

I am back to normal now and am thinking about all the good things that will come out of not having a car!

The funny part of the story - Cliff's sister was crossing the crosswalk just before the second car turned. She told Cliff's mom that she was pretty sure that she saw me get in an accident - but no, she didn't call to see if I was okay.

The Summer of Vicki will require some walking and TTC tickets. We will have to hope the Warthog hangs in a bit longer. We have the summer to think about our next steps.