So I was in the turn lane...
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Making a left turn into Walgreens . Thirty yards behind me was a major intersection. I had come through that intersection headed north, and right after going through it, I had gotten in the center turn lane. There were a couple of cars in the southbound lane that I had to let go by, then with the oncoming lane completely clear, I turned and began to cross the southbound lane into the Walgreens parking lot. Perfectly normal, fully legal turn.
Suddenly an old pick up truck came flying by in front of me going the wrong way. He was going north in the southbound lane, and coming from over my left shoulder going the wrong way and flying low, I would have never dreamed that a vehicle would be coming at me from that direction. The moment I saw the vehicle I slammed on my brakes, but there was no way to avoid him. He hit the front of my car and tore the shit out of it.
I'm fine, the damage is just to the grill, one headlight, and the front bumper cover. But damn..... it was a man and his teenage son. The son was driving, and they both admitted right from the get go that it was his fault, he was going the wrong way and speeding. The reason - his fuel gauge didn't work, the engine had sputtered like it was out of gas, and they were trying to get around everyone to get to the gas station just ahead on the left.....
So... shit.
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Ouch. Glad you’re ok.
Funny my sister had almost the same thing happen to her this week. Minus the fuel gauge and wrong way. But dad and son creaming her on a left turn.
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Wow!! That is scary!! Glad that you are okay Larry!!
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@Jolly said in So I was in the turn lane...:
Was the driver from Louisiana?
Hahahaha.... i dont think so but he could have easily gotten lost there in a crowd..
I had to laugh at one thing though... the father pulled out his cell phone and started trying to look up the number for the police. He found a number, called it, and got a recording telling him for auto accidents to call another number. He said "let me call them back and I'll read out the number to you. I can't remember it long enough to hang up and then dial it." I said "nah, no need for that" and I speed dialed them from my contacts list. He sort of shook off the fact that I had their direct line on speed dial, but when a couple of minutes later six patrol cars pulled up, and all six officers said hi using my first name, and one female officer asked me "how was Mom doing".. He got that "oh shit who have we hit" look on his face and just sat down in the grass... lol
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Glad you're OK. I had something like that a couple of decades ago. I and the car in front of me were in the left turn lane at the intersection as the light turned red. The car in front of me started to complete his turn when a young man driving 60 in a 30 zone ran the light t-boned the guy in front of me, bounced off and hit me head on and then went another 200 feet into a park. He explained that he was late for work - and was annoyed that he now was going to be even later. My air bag deployed and as my arm was over the steering wheel when it deployed, it exploded into my arm which was not so good for the arm.
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Larry, I swear you have nine lives like cat. So glad you were able to come out of this without injuries.
Love the image of multiple police responding, the personal greetings from them, and the reaction of the dad.
The gas gauge story is weird. How does that justify going the wrong way at a speed higher than the limit? (It doesn't.) Did you volunteer to teach the kid how to drive? It sounds like he needs a better instructor.