(no subject)

[scarfman]

We got the car out of impound, after a coupla hitches: One of the papers we needed to update the registry turned out at the last minute to require notarization, but that got resolved in about twenty minutes. Then when we got to the impound lot the car wouldn't start - the thief(ves) had run out the battery and the gas tank. But we borrowed the lot's gas can and got a jump from the yard man, and after the highway trip home the battery was all back to normal and I got to put in the last 1.3 hours of the workday.

Most of my stuff was no longer in the car ... and had been replaced by other stuff. At the impound lot counter they said to report which stuff wasn't mine, but they didn't give me any hint as to the procedure for that, and when I asked the yard guy he said, "They've already investigated that stuff as much as they're going to. This isn't CSI. Keep the crap or throw it out." qtrhorserider looked the stuff over and wasn't uninterested but my attention yesterday was elsewhere. At least the only really valuable things to me that went missing ought to be easily replacable.

Then this morning on the way to work I was rear-ended.

I'm not hurt (though my wife says I'll be sore tomorrow).

I was proceeding down the center lane of a three-lane street and there was a school bus stopped at a corner with the little red stop sign extended and flashing. The other traffic was just driving by, but I thought it was the law that you had to stop, so I did. That's when I got hit.

I spent the first five or ten minutes looking for my glasses. The other driver wasn't hurt either; or at least she didn't appear hurt and I neglected to ask. Cop showed up, took our information and gave us little information sheets to fill out for each other. Damage to my car doesn't make it undriveable, but the driver's side rear fender is in contact with the tire. I stayed down to about twenty-five mph for the remaining six blocks to my office. Before I went in I broke one of the auto thief's golf clubs trying to bend the fender away. I'd've tried it with my tire iron but the key won't turn in the trunk lock (I suppose the tire iron might not still be there, too).

The cop confirmed that you are indeed supposed to stop for a school bus like that, and he wrote a ticket to the other driver for following too close. But I guess, in retrospect, when it's raining and the temperature is in the thirties may be the wrong time to buck a trend.

Comments

[jrittenhouse.livejournal.com]

You could always use the golf clubs on the guy if you ever find him.

This reminds me of when I was in Rostrom's car and he got rearended when parked on the side of the road. The other driver was DWI; me and another passenger in the car were sent to the ER for whiplash. Rostrom was off taking pictures to show that a nearby STOP sign was blocked by an overgrown tree, and that he couldn't have seen it.

Of course, under normal conditions, if you were driving with Rich, you'd feel like you were taking your life in his hands. Lots of mad zooming, careening and so on. And every accident he ever had was The Other Guys fault, no kidding.

[hergrace.livejournal.com]

/me think Paul deserves a break for Xmas

Hope your back is okay. I'm glad there are still people like you who actually respect that red stop sign on the school buses. It amazes me how many people think it's just fine to speed past while kids are loading and unloading.