Rainy days and Mondays …

… often result in fender-benders.   Or something like that.  Actually, today’s fender-bender can’t be blamed on the rain.  It was a really strange quirky thing.  We were travelling west on 38th Street after I picked Rachel up from her piano lesson at Butler University. There are 2 lanes of traffic that travel west on 38th Street and we were in the right lane with a pack of cars in both lanes.  Almost simultaneously, I noticed lots of brake lights in front of me, and a car stopped right in the middle of the left lane with a woman beside it closing the hood which had apparently flown open (it was actually laying against the windshield, so I think it must have been broken).  Both lanes of traffic stopped.  The left lane stopped because she had stopped.  Not sure why the cars in the right lane (aka my lane) stopped. It could’ve been some cars changing lanes at the last minute.  It all happened in a split second.  One second I was slowing to a stop and taking in the scene in front of me, the next minute I heard a squealing of tires, looked in my mirror and saw a pick-up truck bearing down on the car behind me.  The car behind me must have spotted the truck and was trying his best to turn his car, but since we were at a standstill, and the truck was coming up so fast, he could only move it partly out of the way.  I remember thinking “he’s going to hit that car” and then “he’s going to hit us.”  It was a very helpless feeling.  Despite the grim scenario, two things were in our favor:  1) since the car behind me was at a bit of an angle, the truck caught the back corner of his car, so he didn’t get the full force of the impact.  2) since the truck hit that car first, our van didn’t get nearly as bad of a hit.  Don’t get me wrong, it was still quite a jolt, and unfortunately, Grant (3) and Claire (5), who were also with us, had no idea what was coming, so it was even more shocking to them. 

After I calmed down Grant and Claire (and myself), I got out and talked to the other drivers, neither of whom was hurt.  Apparently, the woman whose hood flew up didn’t notice the squealing of tires and crunching of steel behind her, because she casually got back in her car and drove off. 

In spite of it all, there really is so much to be thankful for:

• first and foremost, no one was hurt;
• both of the other drivers were decent and fairly calm throughout the ordeal;
• both police officers I dealt with were very friendly;
• the pick-up truck driver had insurance;
• I had just paid our 6-month premium on the van last week;
• ours was the only one out of three cars not hauled away from the scene on a wrecker!

Our 12-seater Chevy Express van may not make the cover of Car and Driver magazine, but right now I wouldn’t trade it!