I've said that a car accident would be a bad thing for me..I hate being right

[ErinENj]

As you can tell by the title, I got into a car accident this afternoon. It wasn't a really huge accident, but any accident really sucks. I was at this really irritating poorly planned intersection, on my way home from picking up some lunch, and the light turned green. I was a few cars back from the first person in line, so when the person in front of me looked like they were going through the GREEN light, I checked to make sure that no one was on the road I was turning on to, like most people do when they make a turn. I was rolling when I was looking, and as I was turning my head back to look in front of me and as I put my foot on the gas pedal and pushed down, I saw that the person in front of me hadn't in fact gone. They were at a dead stop at the GREEN light. There was nothing I could do. I stomped on my brakes, but I hit her. I saw it coming, but it was definately too late. I wasn't going quickly, but it still hurt, and was forceful enough to throw everything from my passenger seat onto the floor as far forward as possible, and to make my chest hurt from the seatbelt restraining me. My airbag didn't blow, and neither did her's thankfully.

I was so scared that she was really angry, but when I had gotten my registration, insurance card, and license out and had called the police, I got out of my car to see what damage I had on the front of my car. I apologized to the other driver, and explained exactly what had happened from my car, and she was okay with it. Not happy, but okay She didn't scream my head off, so I was okay. She knows that that intersection was so poorly planned that accidents are inevitable, and happen all the time there. So we exchanged information (after I found my driver's license thanks to a nice woman who saw it blow out of my hand and onto the grass. I was in the process of having a complete freak-out about not being able to find my license as that wonderful woman pointed it out to me.) and then the police arrived. He came up to me first, and I gave him all the info and explained what had happened. I had to fill out a form explaining my side of the accident and stay in my car.

So I'm sitting there sweating my brains out because I didn't want to turn the car on for fear that the cop would think I was about to flee the scene. Then, all of the sudden, there's someone standing by my window and scaring the crud out of me! It was my father!! This was one of those times when I was so happy to see him! I had had my mom on the phone when the accident happened (she was on hold as I was trying to get clear of that intersection. I knew I didn't need a distraction there.) and had screamed all sorts of explitives as I had the accident which she heard, and she started screaming at me, "What happened?? Are you alright?? What's going on??" I screamed right back, "I just had a G.D. accident. I need to call you back." Turned out I worried her something terrible, so she sent my father down to investigate and make sure I was alright. My back was seriously less than pleased, but I didn't sustain any new injuries than the pain from the seatbelt. Plus, he calmed me down. As sooon as I saw him, I started crying. The last time I had an accident I got home and called the insurance company. As I was walking out of the house with the phone to make sure I didn't see any major damage, here comes my father, screaming at me. The woman from my insurance company said, "do you need to call me back?" Yeah, I called her back later after a nice hour of my father screaming at me. I don't remember why. But this time, he was okay. I explained to him what happened, and he understood that it wasn't my fault. Plus, to make my life a little better, he knew the police officer who responded to my call. So he talked to the cop, and found out if I was getting a ticket (I wasn't), and calmed me down a bit. He asked the woman if she was okay, and then went home after I told him I was okay.

What I know right now is that if the combination of fixing the damage to my car and her's (I have a dent that caused a few holes in my front bumper and she had a dent and a hole in her back bumper) charged to my insurance company is over $999, I get a surcharge that'll add something near $300 to my insurance. And the $300 is every 6 months, not every year, for three years. If I don't get into another accident in 3 years, the surcharge will go away.

Needless to say, my back is killing me today. I'm having some functionality issues. Everything hurts; sitting, standing, lying down, walking, moving in any way whatsoever. I'm sure it's from the sudden jerk of the accident. I'm hoping to make class tomorrow, but I'm not sure if I will. If the pain stays like this, I'm going to have to ask my doc for another epi to make it through and get rid of some of the irritation from today to see if it will help. I've been saying for years that a car accident would do bad things for my pain levels, and I was really right. And I wish I didn't have to find out.

I guess life is just throwing me yet another curve ball to keep things interesting. You know, I'd be happy with boring. I could handle that without an issue. I like boring. Boring is a lot less painful.

[BrokenBladder]

Erin I'm so sorry this happened to you!!:(
Before you go letting yourself get down in the dumps just remember that's why they call them "accidents", we never PLAN on them.:rolleyes:
I wish your pain levels had stayed down, but honestly the impact alone from the accident is bound to make anyone sore and especially a CP person. If I were you I think I would take it easy tomorrow and let your body recover.
One good thing came out of this, you didn't get a ticket to pay!! I hope your insurance dosen't go up either, that would be an added bonus!!
Gentle hugs and try and get some good rest tonight and tomorrow.

[Mark N]

Erin, sorry to hear about the accident but keep your chin up.

[ErinENj]

Thanks Lisa and Mark! I'm trying, but my chin just keeps sagging. I'm just so frustrated that it had to happen! I know it's an accident, and it was kinda one of those unavoidable things. I mean, who would ever think that someone would stop for a green light? That was not expected. I think we both said the same thing to the officer and our stories matched up, so the officer didn't put anyone at fault. Unfortunately, insurance doesn't work that way here in NJ (I'm not sure about elsewhere...I do know that NJ is the worst state for car insurance and property tax). Because I hit her from behind, it's my fault, no matter what the circumstances were. Which really frustrates me. I don't understand why there's no room for an inevitable accident where neither party was at fault. If there's anyone to blame, it's the person who planned such a rotten intersection!! I would explain the intersection, but there's just no way to say it in words because it is just that screwy.

And, Lisa, I'm planning on taking it easy tomorrow. I have one late afternoon class, but if I call my professor and tell her what happened, she'll tell me to stay home. We have a test coming up, but not for about a week or two and I'm feeling a little bit better about my understanding of the material. It's my weakest class, Latin, but I've been getting a bit better at it. At the beginning of the semester, I pretty much kept my mouth shut during class because all my answers were wrong, but recently, I've started answering more and more questions and actually getting them right. There are 2 girls in my class who I consider Latin-whizes, and I actually got a bunch of questions right that they got wrong. It definately gave a boost to my ego and boosted how I felt about my ability to do Latin. So, we'll see if I can manage to get my grade up above the C+ I got for a midterm grade. But the teacher is very understanding, so we'll see how I feel tomorrow.

I'll be back at the same intersection tomorrow, and you can bet, I'll be keeping my distance and be making sure that the person in front of me actually went through the intersection before I try to. I really wanted some support from my mom, like a hug or something, because I'm sure she noticed me not doing so hot tonight, but she didn't. I'm a little nervous that she's mad at me for having an accident. The timing couldn't be more rotten. I know, there's never a good time for an accident, but now is a really bad one. My dad lost his job about a week and a half ago and his company is only giving him a month of severence pay. Plus, it turns out that the people who are supposed to pay the taxes, social security, etc, all that money Uncle Sam takes out of his paycheck, screwed up, so there's some problem with his unemployment. But even with his unemployment, it won't be nearly enough to cover the regular bills, let alone another $300 on top of it. The only positive I can think of is that it's every 6 months (my dad told me that you can't replace a bumper on a car for less than $999, and we're not getting mine fixed, so we can do whatever possible to try not to go over that magic number...I have a question: won't her insurance cover some of her repairs? How does this whole insurance thing work? I've never really dealt with this before, so I have no clue how it all gets paid and by who, etc) so hopefully by the time the bill gets here, dad will have a job.

I guess I'm just really irritated that this happened. I feel like I should have done something differently, but I can't think of anything. I was being a responsible driver by checking to make sure no one was coming even though I had the right of way. The light was green, so why would someone come to a complete stop? I don't know what's bothering me more, the accident, or what it did to my back. I've got a month left of school, that's it, and I graduate. But now, I've got another huge speed bump to get over with my back. Plus, I'm going to go get my arms checked out because I'm having some issues with shooting pain down my arms into my hands, and the pain is very similar to the pain I get in my leg. So I have to make an appointment with my PCP to get that checked out. Just my arms alone was enough to make school more difficult, but I guess having it be more difficult isn't good enough. Life has to make it freakin' impossible! There are times like this when I just wonder if there's someone out there who doesn't want me to graduate so they keep throwing me curve balls. I don't need it to be easy. I just want it not to be so hard.

[Mark N]

Erin, whoever is determined to be at fault their insurance will cover the repair bill for both cars. If you are a state that breaks down the fault by % then if you are at fault your insurance company has to pay that % of the repair bill.

[BrokenBladder]

Erin, in FLorida, the person who's at fault, which is you because you rear ended her, is responsible for the damage to her car and yours. The good news here is that you dont want to repair your car so you should only have to worry about hers. Your insurance company should pay that damage for you, its called property damage liability. Check your policy and make sure you have that.
Now take a big, deep, breath, your father may not have to spend a dime out of his pocket.

[Quahog]

I am sorry to hear about your car accident as well. I hope you are OK.

Just remember that you can and will get through this.

Take care

[shotspine]

Erin....
I'm so sorry about your accident. That stinks, big time! If the damage to her car is not a big thing, you may be able to offer her a cash settlement and not file a claim with your insurance company at all. You already know it is going to cost you $1800. over 3 years, plus whatever your deductible is, plus any possible increase in your premiums so.....if you can avoid filing a claim, it would be best. You never know, she may rather have the money. It's not good for her to have an accident on her record either.

Whatever happens, I hope it isn't too hard on the pocketbook and your body will feel better quickly.

[Kathi49]

Erin,

I am sorry to hear this too. I know you didn't need all this to happen to you. :(

My ex husband used to be an Insurance Adjuster and I know in Indiana if you back end anyone, you are at fault. I hate to say that but it is true. I had a gal hit me once down the side of my car while driving on ice. I was at a complete stop; she didn't see me (she was coming around a curve), hit me, and continued to slide and bounce down the whole side of my car and pushed my car into a ditch. She swore up and down it was my fault. DUH! I was the one that was stopped. Plus, she had no insurance.

So, my husband went out that night and took pictures in the snow and ice of the tire tracks. In the long run, we had proof that it was HER fault.

Anyway, it sucks I know. And when my daughter was in college, she was in a fast food line and the guy in front of her just put his car in reverse and slammed into her front end. I am assuming she was in his blind spot and he just didn't want to wait in line anymore. But his parents swore up and down it was her fault. I had to laugh a little because she said, "I was just sitting there waiting to order my food!" Thank goodness she had several witnesses.

Again, I am sorry this happened to you. But chin up! It will get resolved. And I agree with shotspine. If you can avoid a claim, I would! And I also hope you get to feeling better.

[curiousforever]

I had a wreck sort of similiar. And unfortunately it's our faults. It's not her job to keep another vehicle from hitting her from behind. It's our job not to let our vehicle hit another car.

Hope you feel better.