The Long Life and Sad Demise of My First Car Page 1 Page 2 Page 3

I was traveling southbound on I-15 here in San Diego.  I was heading downtown for my company's Xmas party and decided to take the I-15 to the 94, which would head west and into the city center.  The traffic was not heavy but nor was it light.  It was however, full of individuals who do not have a clue when it comes to driving in the rain.

As I was headed southbound the driver's of one of the cars in front of me decided that he did not like the road conditions.  So, he decided to pull over and wait them out.   Not, get off at the next exit, but simply pull over right there.  OK, being the safe driver that I am, as he slows down and pulls over, I begin slowing my car.

This is where the fun started.  I was traveling well below the speed limit and probably no more than forty miles per hour.  As the other driver slowed down and I applied my brakes, my car began to hydroplane.  The roadway was very slick with the rain so even the new tires I had on my Golf did me no good.  Due to the curve of the highway and the angle of the roadbed, my car skidded in pretty much a straight line - straight into the back of the other car.  I rear ended that car almost dead on.   Bam!  There was nothing I could do.

By the time our vehicles hit, his was stopped off the road.  The impact from the crash knocked his car forward by about ten feet or so.  It also crumpled the back of his car and mashed the front of mine.  Not a good thing.

Luckily we all walked away from this one uninjured.  I did have some soreness across my chest where the safety belt had done its job but nothing else.  At least nothing that a good, long, hot bath didn't fix.  It was just my luck that the other car had not one, not two, but three other people in it.  At the time of the accident they were all fine.  In fact, they all refused any medical treatment at the scene and left the site by walking into another car that drove them away.  Funny that sometime later each one suddenly developed "soft tissue injuries."  At least that is how they described it in the insurance claim against me.  Great.  At least I have insurance and I am covered for all that.

Suffice to say, my party plans for that night were canceled cold.  That night I had some very clear visions of the last seconds before my car hit the other vehicle.   It was dark so the headlights seemed all the brighter as the illuminated the back to that Chrysler LeBaron.  My visions were of it swelling in my windshield until there was an even brighter flash as we hit.  This continued for several days after the accident.  As annoying as dealing with the "injury" claim has been, at least no one was really injured or worse.

Several days after the accident and on one of the first clear days in several weeks, I went down to the lot where they had towed my poor little Golf to assess the damage.   I cleaned out all that belonged to me that was not part of the car itself.  I also took the license plates as I retained those for my current wheels.  My dead little car looked very sad and very broken.  I took some pictures of this sad event.   It is not a happy thing but at least I have something to remember it by.

This Page Was Last Updated On: 27 February 2003