Arggh.
Around 12:30 Friday, Sept 19th, during my lunch hour, I was driving home, and at the fun 5 way stop, I did my stop thing and then go thing and then I was t-boned by a young visitor from Lincoln Nebraska. She was only 17 years old and she was here for a recruiting at Washburn. She was looking for a gas station to head to KC. I guess she was on her cell phone plus she didn’t see the stop sign. Wham. (thank the goddess my son wasn’t with me!!)
I only vaguely remember everything. I saw this blue “object” in my perifs and I was like, oh great, and then she hit me. My car spun outa control. I don’t know exactly, but I know I was fighting the steering wheel and finally got back over to my side of the road, where I promptly drove up one of those support wires holding up an electrical pole. Yup. My front wheels left the ground! It was weird. She ended up in the middle of the intersection, still pointing the right way. I honestly don’t know how far I was pushed, if I spun or if I just swerved. She hit me on the passenger side doors. Both of them. Perfectly in the middle so my tire wells weren’t “severely” damaged. Yeah, my car was still drivable!
Anyway, I got out of my car and she got out of hers. I asked her if she was okay and she asked me the same thing. We both said we were fine. She was crying so I gave her a hug. I think someone else called the cops, but I still dialed 911 and the dispatch told me someone was already on their way.
I called my boss. LOL Got teased after they found out I was okay and I was told to not say words like shit, damn or hell. And I said, does that include the f-word, and they found that funny. *grin* They said to keep them updated and I said I would. I know more funny stuff was said, but I can’t remember it.
I think it was nearly a half hour later before the cops showed up. *sigh* Topeka at their finest. But the cops were really awesome. Officer Kris got there first and took our statements and then Officer Claude showed up to direct traffic. (He almost got hit because some idiot wasn’t paying attention. I mean, HELLO, there are cars in the middle of the road, the cop is in the middle of the road, what made this chick think she could drive right through?!?!)
Her 2000 blue mustang was totaled. :( Her front bumper was over by my car. Her hood was pushed up and I know her radiator had been pushed back, plus I could hear it hissing.
A woman at the stop sign started yelling at this poor young girl. Calling her fucking stupid and if she hadn’t been on her cell phone, it wouldn’t have happened. Blah blah blah. I couldn’t believe this woman would do that. This poor young girl was already terrified, crying, alone in a city where she knew no one, and she had to hear this shit from some hag who didn’t even stick around to see if she was okay. She just shouted obscenities and then drove off. It was weird. Time was going so slow. I don’t know, but looking at my cell phone, everything was done by 1:30, so, I guess things went faster than I thought.
Anyway, this girl had no place to go. She was going to stand on the corner with her suitcases, pillow and purse until her boyfriend came and got her. I was like, um. NO. So, the cops called her coach and Washburn U. Couldn’t reach the coach, but Claude had a friend who worked there, and he set things up so she could stay in her office until someone came to get her. I offered to drive (chauffeur actually since she couldn’t get into the front seat.. LOL). The cops were impressed, but I couldn’t just leave her!!
I took her to Washburn (went around the block and Officer Claude managed to time it so I was behind him. He waved and gave us a thumbs up! He had given me directions, but when we pulled to the turn I needed to take, he pointed it out to me. LOL) and we went in to find this friend of Claude’s. I got her situated and she wanted to come out to my car to see if she got everything. She did, apologized again and I gave her another hug. I told her she has my phone number and if she needed anything, to give me a call.
I then headed home for smokes. Yeah, I ran out of cigs. Told Disa and showed her the car and about that time Thorik called me back. (I’d called earlier, but he hadn’t been able to answer his phone, but he called as soon as he heard my message to make sure I was okay!) Her words were “Oh my god!” which Thorik heard. LOL
Then I went over to my insurance agent and he had some great advice for me. Then I drove back to work where I called USAA, her insurance company. The claim was already starting to be filed, so I left my information and she said I’d be hearing from a claim agent soon.
Per my insurance guy’s suggestion, I went to a body shop and he pretty much told me my car is going to be totaled. The blue book value on my car is NOT good but he said that since I haven’t claimed the hail damage on the car, whether or not it is totaled, I need to claim it. It’ll give me some extra money, he said. And since I’m upside down on the car as it is, (16k), I’m gonna need all the extra money I can get. I have a 2006 Kia Optima with 61000 miles. I’m screwed. *sigh*
The body shop said I should probably get a rental because there may be internal damage that they would need to take the car apart to see (or something like that). Also, my air bag light is on now (but the air bags did not deploy).
I needed to go shopping for my son tomorrow. He doesn’t have enough jeans because he outgrew all of them. LOL. Guess I’m not going anywhere tomorrow now. Blah.
Well, that was my day!
I’m just glad to be home, safe and sound.
