SS:Car Accident
Mrs. Kevster and I were in a car accident today. I was driving us in my 2dr Honda Accord to the Torrance Home Depot at about 3:15 this afternoon. We were on Artesia Blvd doing just under 35 mph when this woman driving a 99 Ford Explorer runs a red light in the intersection I am about to enter. She stops in my lane and I have nowhere to go since there is a car to my left side. I hit my brakes and tried to swerve a little but there wasn't much I could do. My Honda went under the explorer and was pretty badly damaged in the front end. You can see pics of the damage here and here. Her Explorer was only lightly damaged and from the looks of things she got off pretty lightly.You can see my skid marks in the intersection (middle of the picture) that show I didn't have much warning. Mrs. Kevster and I were both wearing our seat belts but she got knocked on the top of her head on the car ceiling because she was turned and reaching backward for something when this occurred (she's also somewhat tall).
The Redondo Beach PD was there in about 45 seconds - we had just passed a cruiser going the opposite way on Artesia when this happened. I had a ton of witnesses for this and I happened to have my digital camera in the trunk (I forget who it was that advised everyone to have a camera in their car for just such an occurance - thanks to whoever it was because I make sure of that now!). As for the damage, I had multiple fluids leaking from my car afterward including coolant (radiator was pushed back and down), battery acid (battery was fractured in at least 2 cells) and wiper fluid (reservoir was smashed). I had it towed because of the leaks since I didn't want to try and drive it and cause more damage to it.
As for the police and the other driver, this is where it got interesting. First of all, she was driving her boyfriend's explorer with a suspended license and a bench warrant for her arrest because of a failure to appear for another accident/citation. She lied to the police about her license and her insurance, so I don't even know if she's insured (the explorer is, but it's covered by AIS so I'm thinking it's bottom-of-the-barrel minimum coverage). The Redondo Beach PD got all the information collected and got 2 eyewitness accounts of the accident (both definitely in my favor). They gave me a copy of all the information, the incident number, the officer's name/badge ID, etc. Then they put the cuffs on her and took her away to the Redondo Beach PD station because she 1. had a bench warrant and 2. lied to them repeatedly about her information and that pissed them off (at least that's what the officer told me).They towed the explorer away to the impound too (I wonder if that can get confiscated under CA state law - anyone know?).
What sucks about all of this is we have a big road trip coming up in less than 2 weeks and we were going to take my Honda. I just got a bunch of maintenance work done to it in the last 2 weeks including new brakes, front-end realignment, and my radiator flushed. Worst of all though was the fact that while we were waiting for the police to take care of everything and take us home I had to listen to the traffic on Artesia crushing all of my car's broken pieces left on the roadway.
On the lighter side of things, I did have my Got|Apex shirt on through all this.
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Originally Posted by Kevster
The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge.
I am seriously #@$%! pissed right now. At least I know where these people live. Hey Nija, want to make a house call with me? (just kidding - though it may come to that when I have to sue).
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