Fiona ails

I was in a car accident this morning on the way to work. No one was hurt. I was stopped in traffic and a small SUV rear-ended me while trying to pass me on the right. The impact caused me to hit the person in front of me as well, so a total of three cars were involved. There was already another set of vehicles pulled on the side of the road from a previous accident, so we just added to the mess. I was very shaken up, of course, but quickly came to just accept what had happened. I think the fact that it was not my fault allowed me to avoid replaying the incident over and over again in my head. I had seen the guy approaching in my rear-view mirror and when he hit, my first thought was, "This has to be a bad dream!" I immediately called my office to let them know I'd be in late or perhaps not at all, and my boss was very concerned and supportive. (Have I mentioned that I love where I work?) My next call was to my mom, who suggested I should call my insurance company.

The guy in front of me had called 911. An officer was on the scene relatively quickly, from the Cary Police Department. He started at the back and worked his way up. We were there for probably 45 minutes to an hour waiting for him to complete all his paperwork. Of course I killed some of the time by taking pictures. Aren't they lovely??



I also chatted with the victim in front of me. He was a pediatrician, very nice fellow. Luckily the carseat in his Jeep Cherokee was unoccupied. Eventually we went back to visit the culprit. We obtained his info, even though I'm sure it'll all be in the police report. The guy was from Virginia, based on his plates and insurance. He said he'd driven in DC-metro traffic for eight years and had never had an accident. Not like that matters to me, buster!

The doctor had very little damage to his car, just a mark on his bumper from where I hit, so he drove off after the cop released us. I had called AAA to get towed, because I wasn't sure the car was driveable. The lady told me the truck would be there by 9:58, an hour and 15 minutes away, but probably much sooner because she was marking my case priority due to it being the result of a motor vehicle accident. So you can imagine I was more than a little peeved when the tow truck that pulled up half an hour later was for the other guy! I ended up sitting there another hour waiting for mine. The police officer was so nice. He said their policy is not to wait for AAA, but rather than leave me alone he suggested that I leave my car there and he would give me a ride to where I needed to go. I opted to stay with my car, but he was very concerned that I feel safe. That felt nice.

When the tow truck finally did arrive, I had him tow me to Cary Collision, the same place I took my previous car to repair the deer damage.


The guy who hit me has Geico insurance (thank heavens he is insured!) and the auto body guy said as far as getting cars repaired goes, Geico is the best. He said it's no hassle, and they allow factory parts from the start. (As opposed to Allstate (which I have), who makes you look for used parts first, then after-market, and then only if those are unavailable are you allowed to resort to factory parts. That's kinda crummy!) I was told it probably would not be totaled, but would take at least 30 days to repair. Holy canoli!

I've already got my rental car that Geico is paying for. Enterprise put me in a minivan. Kinda big, but it's nice to be a little higher up off the road, and man is there a lot of room in there.

So I finally made it work around 11:45, only three hours late! Ha ha. When I walked in my boss asked, "What are you doing here?" in a "go home and take care of yourself" kind of way. Apparently he had assumed I would not be coming in. But I felt fine and I had a lot to do. Everyone was so caring and I got to show off my gnarly looking photos. When the president of the company came in, he also expressed concern, and urged me to go to the doctor even though I wasn't feeling any effects. So I made an appointment for this afternoon. She said I'll probably be fine, but there's always the possibility that I'll wake up tomorrow stiff as a board. She gave me some scrips for heavy-duty meds but I'm holding off on filling them, in the hopes that I won't need them. Of course now I'm like a hypochondriac, looking for any sign of pain attributable to the accident. I did have a slight headache this afternoon, my lower back twinges now and again, and my left knee is making itself known, but those are all things that could happen on any given day even without an accident. Time will tell, I guess.