Living the SLO Life

I was in a car accident today. My "first" car accident ever. Instead of retelling it all (as I've been over the story many times today) I'm just going to copy and paste the report I typed up for my own personal memory aid.

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7/28/2005

12:50 PM

"Up Toro" refers to away from the freeway; "down Toro" refers to towards the freeway.

I was pulling out of the driveway of 634 Toro St. (Courtney's house) to make a left to go up Toro. Cars were parked along the street (specifically, on my side of the street, just to my left) so I could not see any oncoming traffic well. A black pickup truck coming down Toro turned left into the driveway across and slightly up Toro from 634. In this truck were the four people who witnessed the accident about to occur. I nosed out into Toro, because I could not see around the cars parked along the side of the street. From my left, Rahul was driving his red motorcycle down Toro, accelerating from the stop sign at Toro and Walnut. I believe he was going very much faster than the speed limit (25mph in a residential area), as he was speeding up to get on the freeway (the collision occurred 100ish yards from the freeway onramp). I slammed on my brakes and came to a stop before the collision occurred, but I did not have enough time to try to back up into the driveway again. Rahul's motorcycle struck the left side of my car, in front of the front-left wheel. Rahul flew off the bike landing on the other side of my car (the witnesses agreed that he bounced off of my hood). The bike lay in front of my car after the accident, facing up Toro. Rahul immediately got up after landing on the pavement and hobbled over to the side of the road to sit on the curb. I do not know where exactly he landed on the pavement because he got up before I could see. I turned off my car immediately after the accident, leaving it blocking the side of Toro heading towards the freeway. Two of the witnesses came over immediately and helped me move Rahul's motorcycle out of the road, at Rahul's request. Rahul told me to move my car too, but another of the witnesses, Della, advised me to leave it where it was until the police told me to move it. I left the car parked where it was.

The ambulance showed up first. The paramedics gave Rahul a quick exam and determined that he was in no immediate danger. They recommended that he be taken to the hospital to get his foot checked out, which Rahul was unable to stand on. Rahul reported no other pain. He evidently hurt his foot from landing on the pavement, possibly breaking it.

A CHP officer showed up next. The call he received said that the accident had occurred on the freeway, which is why he responded. As this was not the case, the CHP officer took no other "official" action. He did tell me to move my car so that the road would be clear as soon as the ambulance left.

The SLO PD officer showed up next. He took down my information as well as Rahul's, and had both of us give our side of the story for the report. I told him more or less what I have written above. Rahul said that he had been looking at the black pickup truck, and when he turned back to watch where he was going, I was in the street and he couldn't avoid me.

Della said she would talk to my insurance company, saying that she thought Rahul was indeed exceeding the speed limit.

People had left by about 1:35 PM.

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I have since talked to my parents and our insurance agency. The claims agent I spoke with said that she thinks I'm going to be the one at fault, simply because the motorcycle had the right of way. Even if I can prove Rahul was speeding (my only hope: Della the witness), the agent said that she thought our insurance would have to cover all of my damages, all of his damages, and 80-90% of his medical bill. This, frankly, irks me to no end. I certainly can't say that this wasn't partly my responsibility, but I am NOT completely at fault. But what can I do? Mom says the insurance company would rather assume liability than spend any time deliberating over the cause of the accident. So that pretty much just blows.

And now, for my readers' personal enjoyment, here's a charming photograph of the damage:

There you go. Isn't that just loverly?

If you're looking for a bright side to this, here's one: I didn't have anything to do today, but luckily I was thoroughly entertained with calls to parents and insurance agents and such. So hooray.

And I saved this for last to brighten the mood somewhat: the SLO PD officer had a license plate frame on the back of his motorcycle that said "Smile...I could be behind you."

Check left, right, and left again,
Josh

mood: not so great
music: none
location: Courtney's room, San Luis Obispo, CA