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Let me start out by saying that I'm fine. I wasn't hurt, although I am starting to feel a bit sore, so I suspect that I might have strained myself a bit. There was actually very little damage to my car except I knocked the front bumper off on the right hand side. (And the tow truck driver snugged that back into place well enough for now, although I might stop at my mechanic this week to have it reattached with a bit more finesse.)
Oh right ... I haven't actually said what happened. I had a car crash on the way home from work. There's really not much to tell about the accident itself. I was fairly close to home, heading West on 128th. There were 'bursts' of snow blowing across the road from time to time and with that in mind, I had already dropped my speed a bit. There were also spotty patches of snow and black ice on the road. Somewhere along there, I hit one of those, went slightly off the road on the right hand side ... and must have hit a grove in the ice or something, because suddenly it was like something had grabbed the wheel ... I had no control at all and felt the spin start knowing there wasn't really much I could do at that point except hang on to the wheel and hope I hit something soft. As it turns out, that's pretty much exactly what I did. (Thank the Gods there wasn't an on coming car in the lane.)
I stopped in the upslope of the ditch on the opposite side of the road from where I started, facing back the way I had come and pretty solidly stuck. (There was no way I could just drive out of that, particularly since my wheels were getting no traction at all.) Immediate accessement: I'm alive and unhurt ... I didn't even break any windows and the car was still running. I calmly turned off my MP3 player and the car -- in that order. Then flicked on my emergency flashers and dug out my cell phone and my AAA card from my wallet, taking the time to hit the "Where Am I?" emergency icon on my TomTom so I could give my specific location to the agent. Frankly, the phone and the AAA card paid for themselves tonight. I can't say that I enjoyed being in an accident, but it was great to be able to call for help and know that I wouldn't be sitting there wondering how the Hell I was going to pay for the tow while waiting for help.
In the meantime, several people stopped to make sure I was alright, including two local cops, the last of which stopped on the edge of the road and ran his flasher until the tow truck arrived. He did take my information and a statement of what happened, but since no one else was involved and I wasn't hurt, it really wasn't any big deal. After the AAA call, I left a message on our home voice mail so![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bookwurm would know where I was. It turns out she saw the accident when she went by, but couldn't see the car well enough to know it was me. I saw her when she went by, but since I was neither driving nor watching out for the police car with the flashing lights at the time, I suspect I was in a better position to see her than she was to see me. From there, I mostly sat in my car and read until the truck arrived, pulled me out and delivered me to a 'safe location' (i.e., get me off the side of the road and make sure the car is OK to drive) which turned out to the TA Truck Stop near the Bristol Renaissance Faire. Go figure!
The only complication was in the time I sat there with the emergency flasher running, the battery had drained a bit, necessitating a jump by the tow truck driver and his handy portable jumper pack. This cleared my radio stations and caused the tape adapter to get stuck in the slot. I couldn't properly free it until I got home, so I actually had to listen to the radio for 10 minutes or so while I drove home, slower and a bit more nervous than I had a few hours earlier.
So ... as I said, I'm fine and the car isn't damaged in any serious way. I have to laugh at being able to pop the bumper back on like that. Sheesh, the car really is made out of plastic!
I promise the next post will be about happier news ... something about cuddly cats, perhaps?
Oh right ... I haven't actually said what happened. I had a car crash on the way home from work. There's really not much to tell about the accident itself. I was fairly close to home, heading West on 128th. There were 'bursts' of snow blowing across the road from time to time and with that in mind, I had already dropped my speed a bit. There were also spotty patches of snow and black ice on the road. Somewhere along there, I hit one of those, went slightly off the road on the right hand side ... and must have hit a grove in the ice or something, because suddenly it was like something had grabbed the wheel ... I had no control at all and felt the spin start knowing there wasn't really much I could do at that point except hang on to the wheel and hope I hit something soft. As it turns out, that's pretty much exactly what I did. (Thank the Gods there wasn't an on coming car in the lane.)
I stopped in the upslope of the ditch on the opposite side of the road from where I started, facing back the way I had come and pretty solidly stuck. (There was no way I could just drive out of that, particularly since my wheels were getting no traction at all.) Immediate accessement: I'm alive and unhurt ... I didn't even break any windows and the car was still running. I calmly turned off my MP3 player and the car -- in that order. Then flicked on my emergency flashers and dug out my cell phone and my AAA card from my wallet, taking the time to hit the "Where Am I?" emergency icon on my TomTom so I could give my specific location to the agent. Frankly, the phone and the AAA card paid for themselves tonight. I can't say that I enjoyed being in an accident, but it was great to be able to call for help and know that I wouldn't be sitting there wondering how the Hell I was going to pay for the tow while waiting for help.
In the meantime, several people stopped to make sure I was alright, including two local cops, the last of which stopped on the edge of the road and ran his flasher until the tow truck arrived. He did take my information and a statement of what happened, but since no one else was involved and I wasn't hurt, it really wasn't any big deal. After the AAA call, I left a message on our home voice mail so
bookwurm would know where I was. It turns out she saw the accident when she went by, but couldn't see the car well enough to know it was me. I saw her when she went by, but since I was neither driving nor watching out for the police car with the flashing lights at the time, I suspect I was in a better position to see her than she was to see me. From there, I mostly sat in my car and read until the truck arrived, pulled me out and delivered me to a 'safe location' (i.e., get me off the side of the road and make sure the car is OK to drive) which turned out to the TA Truck Stop near the Bristol Renaissance Faire. Go figure!The only complication was in the time I sat there with the emergency flasher running, the battery had drained a bit, necessitating a jump by the tow truck driver and his handy portable jumper pack. This cleared my radio stations and caused the tape adapter to get stuck in the slot. I couldn't properly free it until I got home, so I actually had to listen to the radio for 10 minutes or so while I drove home, slower and a bit more nervous than I had a few hours earlier.
So ... as I said, I'm fine and the car isn't damaged in any serious way. I have to laugh at being able to pop the bumper back on like that. Sheesh, the car really is made out of plastic!
I promise the next post will be about happier news ... something about cuddly cats, perhaps?
