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Tonight I was driving home from my college on the highway. As always I had to pass through a highway intersection that was being worked on, and tonight it once more had seemingly random lanes merging with safety cones funneling the extra lane into the remaining ones. As I passed under an overpass, I failed to realize that the lane to my right was also being funelled straight into my lane, and it was occupied by a rather large semi truck which silently sidled up to me.
Announcing it's presence to me, my eardrums were blown away by the semi's horn, and I realized in a panic that me and my 99' Pontiac Bonneville were about to be crushed by the eighteen-wheel monstrosity. Having no alternative, I was forced to merge into the lane to my left, where a newer grey five-seater was appraoching far faster than myself. I heard a dull *clunk* as the front left side of my long-nosed car clipped this car as I hurriedly moved out of the semi's way.
My brain registered shock as I realized many things at once: 1: I just hit another car. 2: I might have been killed. 3: I'm probably going to have to pay for this guy's damages and I don't even know what our vehicles look like after the collision.
I decided responsibly against an overwhelming urge to drive on as though nothing had hapenned, seeing as both cars were still functional. I followed his vehicle, hoping he hadn't noticed, until I saw his hazard lights turn on and saw his hand out the window motioning for me to follow. Still absorbing the reality of the situation, I followed him out of the lareg construction area until he stopped on a shoulder. I followed and put on my own hazard lights, parked the car, turned it off and stepped out.
Who I had been expecting I didn't know, but it wasn't the very hip-cool sleek blong-haired teenager I was suddenly being addressed by. He couldn't be older than me, and was definitely not as tall as I was. The situation grew less and less tense as he asked me, a little scared, a little bewildered, and a little amused "Hey man! What hapenned?"
The first words out of my mouth were asking him if he was okay. But after we both assured each other's physical well-being, I explained the circumstances to him, and thankfully he couldn't have been any more constructive and good natured and understanding about the situation. At this point we decided to check each other's vehicles for damage. I was immediately glad to see that we had to go over our vehicles carefully to even see what had hapenned. His car only had a spot near the back tire where the paint had been scratched off. My car only had damage near the front left tire by the headlights. One part was slightly scraped, but the paint was still there. Other parts were black skid marks which turned out to be from his higher riding tires, which after scratching with my fingernail turned out to come off with relative ease. Thankfully, the scraped part was in the same spot my father (the previous owner) had snow chains from the same tire fly off the wheel and batter the Hell out of the area as the tire rotated.
After assessing, I agreed (being the driver at fault) to pay for his repairs to the area which will likely cost no more than $100, which I can easily afford. I'm just extremely happy it wasn't worst considering the circumstances.
Anyone else have a similar close-call?
PS: After 6 months behind the wheel, this is my first automobile collision, and I want it to be my last.
Announcing it's presence to me, my eardrums were blown away by the semi's horn, and I realized in a panic that me and my 99' Pontiac Bonneville were about to be crushed by the eighteen-wheel monstrosity. Having no alternative, I was forced to merge into the lane to my left, where a newer grey five-seater was appraoching far faster than myself. I heard a dull *clunk* as the front left side of my long-nosed car clipped this car as I hurriedly moved out of the semi's way.
My brain registered shock as I realized many things at once: 1: I just hit another car. 2: I might have been killed. 3: I'm probably going to have to pay for this guy's damages and I don't even know what our vehicles look like after the collision.
I decided responsibly against an overwhelming urge to drive on as though nothing had hapenned, seeing as both cars were still functional. I followed his vehicle, hoping he hadn't noticed, until I saw his hazard lights turn on and saw his hand out the window motioning for me to follow. Still absorbing the reality of the situation, I followed him out of the lareg construction area until he stopped on a shoulder. I followed and put on my own hazard lights, parked the car, turned it off and stepped out.
Who I had been expecting I didn't know, but it wasn't the very hip-cool sleek blong-haired teenager I was suddenly being addressed by. He couldn't be older than me, and was definitely not as tall as I was. The situation grew less and less tense as he asked me, a little scared, a little bewildered, and a little amused "Hey man! What hapenned?"
The first words out of my mouth were asking him if he was okay. But after we both assured each other's physical well-being, I explained the circumstances to him, and thankfully he couldn't have been any more constructive and good natured and understanding about the situation. At this point we decided to check each other's vehicles for damage. I was immediately glad to see that we had to go over our vehicles carefully to even see what had hapenned. His car only had a spot near the back tire where the paint had been scratched off. My car only had damage near the front left tire by the headlights. One part was slightly scraped, but the paint was still there. Other parts were black skid marks which turned out to be from his higher riding tires, which after scratching with my fingernail turned out to come off with relative ease. Thankfully, the scraped part was in the same spot my father (the previous owner) had snow chains from the same tire fly off the wheel and batter the Hell out of the area as the tire rotated.
After assessing, I agreed (being the driver at fault) to pay for his repairs to the area which will likely cost no more than $100, which I can easily afford. I'm just extremely happy it wasn't worst considering the circumstances.
Anyone else have a similar close-call?
PS: After 6 months behind the wheel, this is my first automobile collision, and I want it to be my last.