Stuff Happens

Yesterday afternoon, I was heading home after having lunch with some friends,  stopped at a four way intersection when I was rear-ended by someone driving a pickup truck.

My first thought was: "oh. great." and I made an immediate right turn looking for a place where both of us could park legally and handle the niceties. To my surprise, the truck immediately went straight through the intersection and sped off, followed by another car. I had the room to do a quick U-turn and began to follow, hoping to get close enough just to get the license plate. However, the truck made a few risky maneuvers that I was unwilling to try and duplicate and I got stuck in neighborhood traffic.

The blue car following the truck was similarly left behind, but the driver called out to me: "I'm on 911.". It turns out that the truck had also hit them, and they were following the truck when the truck rear-ended my car. FYI, 911 called from a cell phone goes to Caliornia Highway Patrol, so if you happen to call 911, it helps to be able to identify exactly where you are, or better yet, know exactly which police force has jurisdiction so you can advise 911 who to contact and save a few seconds.

The local police quickly showed up, took our statements, let us know that the vehicle had been stopped and the driver apprehended. I was given the name of the apprehending officer as well as a case number to use to follow up.

As for me, I had a minor headache I attribute to muscle spasms since it went away after a shot of Glenlivet. This morning, my neck is stiff, and I'm trying not to attribute every ache and pain I now seem to be experiencing to it, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about it affecting my health going forward. The car is more or less OK, but I'm going to need to replace the right rear light assembly as well as get the truck lock fixed. It was bent such that my key came out crooked when I tried to unlock the trunk. My mechanic was able to jimmy the trunk open, which I guess is a good thing, but now my trunk doesn't lock, which isn't a great thing when you drive a convertible and the trunk is the only secure place to store stuff.

I'm now trying to figure out how to respond to all this. I guess the first thing to do is find out more about the driver of the truck. More on this as things progress.