Dargo
Like a bad penny...
I know, confusing title. I'll explain. About 99% of the time we are coming to my home from the south, since there is nothing to the north but corn fields and eventually I64. Anyway, about 1/8 of a mile from my house there are 2 reasonably sharp turns; not those 90 degree turns, but 30 to 40 mph turns. For years my wife and I have commented that oncoming traffic is literally always over in our lane no matter if we are coming home (headed north) or leaving (headed south). There really isn't any shoulder, just a ditch on the side of the road. Still, the road is in decent shape and the lanes are normal size.
Well, yesterday I was running to Rural King to get enough chemicals to spray about 15 acres for weeds and bugs and was driving my Excursion. Sure enough, a black pickup was coming at me with both left side tires on my side of the double yellows. All I could do was put my right side tires on the white line. Right as we neared each other, I saw his eyes get big and it looked like he was getting over then BANG! The old fella hit me!
As it turns out, we were very fortunate and only slapped mirrors with each vehicle going 40 mph, so an 80 mph mirror slap. As soon as I verified that I had not in fact dropped a turd in my pants, I pulled over to check for damage; hoping he was coming back. My mirror was against my driver's side window, so I pulled it back in place (one of those break away mirrors). I didn't see any other mark at all on my X. About the time I licked my thumb and discovered the mark on my mirror rubbed off, the older fella showed up behind me. He'd already called 911, so the Sheriff's department was there in a few minutes.
What was surprising, was his 2010 F150 was beaten to heck. His mirror and driver's window had exploded, leaving glass all over him and all over the road. Also, what was left of his mirror was still hanging on by two cables and had already beaten the heck out of his door and front fender. Not knowing his mental condition, I slowly approached him and asked if he was okay. Other than, understandably, being very rattled, he was fine; unlike his truck. That's pretty well when the police got there (they must have been close
. They'd just left my house after doing a VIN check on the motorcycle I'd just purchased).
I was really concerned what he would try to tell the police about how we hit. As procedure, the separated us (no, we were not arguing at all) and took our statements. All I said was that people always seem to be in my lane on these two corners and, with a 2' ditch about 8" off the road, I simply ran over until my right tires were on the white line. The other fella, who I learned was 69, stated that all he knew was there was a really loud 'boom' and he immediately turned to see what hit him and he saw my red Excursion in my lane behind him and that he was in his lane after the impact.
The police didn't feel the statements varied enough to make any difference, so they explained to us that it was simply a 'no fault' accident. They also said that they'd be happy to fill out a police report for us, but it would just be a reason for our insurance companies to raise our rates. The other fella asked me if I was okay without doing any police report, which obviously I was since I had zero damage and I rather strongly feel that he didn't get back into his lane until after the impact. So, the police check out both vehicles and just said 'Wow, unbelievable that the big Excursion has zero damage and the F150 has about $3000 in damage'. I'm glad too, if it were a head on collision, where would I find another 60,000 mile Excursion that was a 1 owner and has always been garage kept.
One of the officers was a trainee from California and said he's probably been to over a hundred similar accidents in CA like that except there was a fatality since one vehicle was a motorcycle 'lane-splitting'. I assured him that I would NEVER consider lane-splitting or, for that matter, even driving on a crowded highway. I'd like a quieter day today...
Well, yesterday I was running to Rural King to get enough chemicals to spray about 15 acres for weeds and bugs and was driving my Excursion. Sure enough, a black pickup was coming at me with both left side tires on my side of the double yellows. All I could do was put my right side tires on the white line. Right as we neared each other, I saw his eyes get big and it looked like he was getting over then BANG! The old fella hit me!
As it turns out, we were very fortunate and only slapped mirrors with each vehicle going 40 mph, so an 80 mph mirror slap. As soon as I verified that I had not in fact dropped a turd in my pants, I pulled over to check for damage; hoping he was coming back. My mirror was against my driver's side window, so I pulled it back in place (one of those break away mirrors). I didn't see any other mark at all on my X. About the time I licked my thumb and discovered the mark on my mirror rubbed off, the older fella showed up behind me. He'd already called 911, so the Sheriff's department was there in a few minutes.
What was surprising, was his 2010 F150 was beaten to heck. His mirror and driver's window had exploded, leaving glass all over him and all over the road. Also, what was left of his mirror was still hanging on by two cables and had already beaten the heck out of his door and front fender. Not knowing his mental condition, I slowly approached him and asked if he was okay. Other than, understandably, being very rattled, he was fine; unlike his truck. That's pretty well when the police got there (they must have been close
. They'd just left my house after doing a VIN check on the motorcycle I'd just purchased).I was really concerned what he would try to tell the police about how we hit. As procedure, the separated us (no, we were not arguing at all) and took our statements. All I said was that people always seem to be in my lane on these two corners and, with a 2' ditch about 8" off the road, I simply ran over until my right tires were on the white line. The other fella, who I learned was 69, stated that all he knew was there was a really loud 'boom' and he immediately turned to see what hit him and he saw my red Excursion in my lane behind him and that he was in his lane after the impact.
The police didn't feel the statements varied enough to make any difference, so they explained to us that it was simply a 'no fault' accident. They also said that they'd be happy to fill out a police report for us, but it would just be a reason for our insurance companies to raise our rates. The other fella asked me if I was okay without doing any police report, which obviously I was since I had zero damage and I rather strongly feel that he didn't get back into his lane until after the impact. So, the police check out both vehicles and just said 'Wow, unbelievable that the big Excursion has zero damage and the F150 has about $3000 in damage'. I'm glad too, if it were a head on collision, where would I find another 60,000 mile Excursion that was a 1 owner and has always been garage kept.
One of the officers was a trainee from California and said he's probably been to over a hundred similar accidents in CA like that except there was a fatality since one vehicle was a motorcycle 'lane-splitting'. I assured him that I would NEVER consider lane-splitting or, for that matter, even driving on a crowded highway. I'd like a quieter day today...
