No One Was Injured but our Wounded Vehicle

Let me repeat that right off:  Everyone is fine, no one was injured 

On Monday night, about 9:30, after picking up worker bees we had to stop at Wal-Mart and as we left, a drunk driver doing about 60 ran a red light and plowed thru our front bumper and tore off a fender and knocked the car in to Neutral.  I saw him coming as I moved in to the intersection, stamped the brakes and turned as far to the left as possible and kept my feet on the brakes so we weren't drug along to become a vehicle slamming in to other vehicles.  Truck behind us did Not hit us and pulled to the left, car behind him pulled to the right so no one else was in the intersection.  At the red light coming the other way the car pulled into a shoulder assuming the car would swerve, it didn't.  Damn drunk didn't even hit his brakes till a quarter mile down the road.



It was my first accident.  Fifty-six and I've never had even a fender bender in the frozen wasteland of ice and snow.

Anyway, two folks stopped to make sure we were OK, one of them giving us the license plate # as my son called 911 to report the accident.  Remember the car that swerved right, well he just ambled on down the road after the drunk, his wife wrote down the plate and they came back to give us the plate #.  Being black, they did not stay at the scene and I totally understood that.  It's not safe here to be black or Hispanic at the scene - even as a witness - and they had their kids with them so ... I thanked them most profusely and encouraged them to head to the house since the next day was first day of school!  The other person was the good ole boy in the truck, he had a first aid bag and was just making sure we were all ok.  Which we were.  He went on to the house as well after saying he'd never seen anything like it - he thought the guy swerved to hit us but I truly think the drunk was just driving that erratically down the middle of two lanes.  We were barely IN the intersection and he really could have missed us by a mile if he'd actually SEEN us, which I doubt he did.

While waiting on the police, the drunk and his girlfriend/ wife/ whatever came back, got out of the car, and started threatening my daughter and I who were in front of the car on the shoulder looking for damage and leaks with my son's most excellent flashlight.  Son was putting parts in the back of the car and drunk didn't see him until he stepped around the car.  Son is 6'2" and size Extra Large Linebacker; drunk was about 5'10" and extra wobbly fat and carrying on with the phrase "You hit me!  I had the green!  You hit me!"  plus other assorted profanities and suggestions about how my son was going to pay for this assault, how he knew all the cops and they'd be hunting us down.  Needless to say, drunk was all about throwing down and "come on man, show me your balls" ... son was all about, "I'm sorry you can't hear me ma'am, the drunk that hit us is back and trying to start a fight ... No, I don't know if he has a weapon and I'm not about to ask and give him any ideas."  This is Alabama, everyone has a weapon and many go in to Wal-Mart wearing them. 

[disclosure:  I think that is effin insane and that open carry & stand your ground laws are nothing but an excuse to murder someone that pisses you off because they look or speak different than you do.]

I will add, I was proud of my son for laughing at this drunk, maintaining his calm and not falling for the come on.  I didn't have to say a word, he simply refused to escalate the situation. 

Drunk carries on.  Daughter records a portion of his diatribe. I get pic of his plate.  Son tries to be heard by dispatcher over the incessant profanities.  He is not going to move from the front of the vehicle staying between sister and drunk, but he continues to ignore the drunk and try and be heard by the dispatcher.  I finally can't take the F-word anymore and point out to drunk that since he couldn't tell I was the one driving, not my son, it is pretty much a certainty he could not tell green from red.  He called me a liar and that's when the girlfriend started begging him to get back in the car.  She'd seen the police cars approaching, he was still swearing and threatening and carrying on about how we hit him.  When she pulled on his belt and said, "The po-lice are coming, we got to go baby!" He got back in the car.

[It's funny now.  It was not at the time.  I plan to skip the stress test this year, don't really need it after that.]

One police SUV pulled in behind us, drunk pulls off at speed, and the second police car did a U and followed him.  When we gave plate # to Officer, he knew instantly -- and I mean instantly -- who the drunk was, had his mugshot on his laptop before I could get out my license, registration and insurance card.  All three of us confirmed the man in the photo was the man that hit us and just pulled off.  Four cars were chasing the drunk by that point.  We give all our info, explain the wreck, Officer gives us case # and then rides off to follow up on the hit and run drunk driver because at this point, drunk had just hit a police car.  He had made it clear across town - about 18 miles - and I gotta admit I was impressed by his ability to elude police that kept saying, "I lost him, have you got him?"  Impressed that the police *knew* who he was and still couldn't catch him until he crashed again.  Made me wonder how many times he's done this and either lost the police or got a slap on the wrist from some judge.

[further disclosure: IMHO drunk drivers belong in those tent cities without hygiene products, real beds, blankets, decent food or medical care, not children of any national origin.  They should sell tickets to anyone over the age of 16 to see the imbeciles that in their inebriation turn a vehicle into a weapon of mass destruction. I have real issues with Police and Judges that let good ole boys / gals skate with a 3 day seminar on the dangers of drunk driving]

The damage is all cosmetic.  NO one was hurt.  The bumper did exactly what it was supposed to do - thank you Federal Regulations!  After removing the dangling bits of fender, the tire wasn't even damaged.  Engine runs just as it did, a/c works, radio is great, we were very lucky.  If I hadn't seen him coming, he would've broadsided us doing 60 without ever touching his brakes [not a tire mark on the asphalt confirms this].  It could've been so much worse.  I've thanked God about fifty times a day since for making me a paranoid, hyper-vigilant, defensive driver.

All that said, I've spent the last week dealing with insurance estimates at a designated location.  The initial estimate was $5000+; the adjuster after his inspection, wants to write off the vehicle because the estimate is 76% of the value of the vehicle.  We only have 20 months left of payments - after the payoff, we'd see probably $2000, not even close to a decent down payment on a decent vehicle and we'd have 4 more years of payments.  He was launching in to the process spiel when I interrupted to ask if I could get a 2nd estimate, here, locally, instead of 35 miles away.  I emphasized that the vehicle has NO frame or engine damage so writing it off feels like a scam to send vehicle to a salvage location, fix it up for "cost" and resell it for their profit.  The fact this body shop is flanked on one side by a used car dealership owned by the body shop owner did NOT impress me.

Adjuster agreed it looks fishy but assured me it was not.  Yeah, whatever.  He then told me I should hurry this along because the rental car is only covered for - I interrupted him that I was in fact in the rental vehicle and on my way to pick up the wounded vehicle and had only had it since Wed, not Monday [total cost when I dropped it off was $111 of the $1500 we're supposed to have available]. 

He said, "Oh it's still drivable?" 

I said, "You didn't notice that when you examined the vehicle?" 

He said, "Absolutely, you can get a second estimate.  Just have the shop call me before they start." 

Uh huh, right, we'll do that.  Adjuster was still there when I got to the Scam Shop, huddled with the owner, all smiles and giggles.  Since I still have to deal with This good ole boy, I shook his hand and didn't smack him upside the head with his metallic clipboard. 

So, I have an appointment for 7:30 a.m. Monday at a local shop. We just want the bumper and fender replaced, painting and color matching is not a big deal and if they can do so for 70% of the value of the vehicle then the insurance will cover it or so the adjuster claimed.  It is insane to just write off this vehicle and start over with such a puny down payment that means the payments will be outrageous for our budget.  Being without that 2nd car is equally insane with five working schedules. 

I still worked a full week with 2 hours of overtime and daughter was late one day by only 7 mins. but they were cool with that since she'd called and warned them and one of her co-workers was glad to wait till she got there, so there Mr. Drunk Driver!  My guess is that he's still walking the street, still has his license, probably doesn't have state mandated insurance, and will carry on without any difficulties whatsoever.  He's probably related to someone.  The fact he's been arrested for DUI before means our accident was preventable, if the zero tolerance for drunk driving laws were enforced. 

This more than anything really ticks me off.  It is the way of the world, I know that.  So, I save my energy for important things, like getting a bowl of ice cream and laughing with kids about the wacko work schedules this week.  And if the occasional fantasy of Drunks in Tent City, with children of many national origins far, far away from there held tight by their parents all of them living safe here, away from bastards and politicians makes me smile sadistically ... I'm OK with that.