The Fickled Middle Finger of Fate (long)
Wednesday, November 10th, 2004 - 2:41pm
Strange things happen.
I was driving to work last Thursday morning, typical drive except a little light on traffic for a change. I glanced up and saw a car on my rear bumper about 2 feet away.
"Where the hell did he come from?" I asked myself. Moving along at a brisk 50 MPH or so traffic in the right lane on this 2 lane highway clears and I pull into it to let this guy pass. No sooner do I finish changing lanes when the car that was ahead in the right lane switches to the left... before I know it the guy on my tail was quickly moving into my lane. I honk my horn as I skim the grass on the side of the highway and look over and yell through 2 closed windows and a quickly diminishing air gap between the cars at the lady behind the wheel. Boom! Our cars hit as I have no more room to pull over. "UGH!" I think as I start to slow down so we can exchange insurance info. This is where many things happen in a short amount of time... The lady who just hit my car floors it! I'm stunned in a mixture of adrenaline fear and outrage! In the half a second it takes me to get my wits about me, the offending vehicle is 500 feet ahead of me and weaving in and out of traffic in reckless abandon to get away. Squinting, I can barely make out the plate number... 392 SFD ... ? is that right? "damn! I wish I could think quicker!". black car... but what kind was it? Hopefully that's enough info for the cops to find it.
I get to work, and the fates smile, there is a cop sitting in the parking lot!! I walk up to his car, shaking from adrenaline, and ask him what I should do. The nice officer called into HQ and wrote down the phone number to the local state trooper barracks.
"Thank you" I say as I head into work to make some phone calls.
I call the Local state police HQ and the man on the phone asks what the situation is. I tell him the whole story.
"Are you sure about the color of the car?" he asks.
"Yeah, black car, dirty, sedan type."
"Ok, I'll have the Officer local to your area get back to you."
hmm... am I sure of the color? That doesn't give me a good feeling. A few minutes later the local trooper calls me ad I repeat all the info that I can remember. "Damage? yes, it looks minor, but I would like to think that people should be responsible for their actions!"
"I understand that, but if the plate number and car don't match, there's nothing I can do for you."
Sure enough, the plate comes back as a silver BMW. that's definitely not the car. Man! now what? I ask the trooper to look at some combinations to the plate.
"The computer in my car is broken, but I'll get back to you"
Ok, fair enough. I gave him a combination I though it might be just incase I pulled a dyslexic move... nope. Another miss. In the mean time, I had the car to a body shop over the weekend for an estimate. 1120.00 of damage, 500.00 deductible on my insurance. I hate thinking that I'm going to have to be responsible for this!
Yesterday I call the trooper back and ask him to try one more plate possibility... no. Crap!
At this point, I've written it off. I'm not 100% sure of the plate number, or even what kind of car it was.
Dateline: this morning - Driving to work as usual trying to put all of last week behind me. I'll get to work, call my insurance company and get my car fixed... pay my deductible, pay whatever the insurance company wants to hike up my rate, and no longer have a completely clean driving record. Traffic is back to normal, heavy, mostly stopped. A few miles later, rt. 8 merges with rt. 15. I'm in the right lane (still 2 lanes) and let a car or two in ahead of me to merge. get to the end where the merge lane turns to guard rail... ZOOM! "freaking traffic!" I mumble as a car speeds by in the last 30 feet of merge, forcing the car ahead of me to swerve into the second lane... wait... "That's the asshole!!" I scream to myself... brain turning into a knife edge I quickly read the plate - 392 SPD.
"That's it! Black Acura sedan! that's the car!!" And just as quickly, gone... weaving dangerously in and out of traffic.
hmm... the car was really clean, like it was just detailed to get rid of some pretty big scratches in the passenger side door. I get on my cell phone and dial the trooper's number. Phone isn't on, damn, maybe he's not working today... I left a message.
Now it's 1:33. I'm about to call the main barracks again to see if the trooper is on duty today. I'll post updates as I go. =)
I hope you all enjoyed reading my real life tale so far... I'm no story teller or writer by any stretch of the imagination, maybe I just needed an outlet... thanks for listening!
People are great here for listening and giving advice. I know.
I really liked your story. I hope everything works out for you.
McChuck wrote:
If the cops can''t do anything, there''s always...justice..of some kind.
Unfortunately, if I slash my wrist with my lightsaber it cauterizes instantly. - PurEvil on emo Star Wars plots.
Yeah I really want to know if the jerk got it now, let us know if you catch her.
"Poor Eli Nooo... *child starts crying*"
"Come on now, there's no need to make that kind of noise. It sounds awful and you'll upset other people." - Ionae from Spirit Engine 2
I hear Reaper''s rates are cheap as free if shanking is involved.
Keep us posted!
Certis beat me to it. - Elysium
Argh... a cliff hanger! I want JUSTICE.
Cyrana Mage 80 ~ Artesia Druid 72
Cyranna Shaman 62 ~ Acereri - DK 61 ~ Artasian - Priest 59 ~ Lenna - Rogue 60
I wanna hear the end of this one too. Call Court TV, they make hour-long documentary films about MUCH less interesting stuff than this.
Morrolan wrote:
So true.
Oh, and this thread title? It''d make a great song title. I think I''ll have to write a song.
"Even though that place should only be fifteen or twenty minutes away geographically, in actual practice - between the hours of four and seven - Redmond might as well orbit the Earth." - Tycho, Penny Arcade
To think that people like these are on the road...
You go get her and get her good!
"Three blokes go into a pub. One of them is kind of stupid, and the whole scene unfolds with a tedious inevitability." - Bill Bailey
Wow! Hope it works out. I live out in the country where every a**hole is convinced he is a NASCAR driver. Totally pisses me off.
Xbox Live: hubbinsd
Good luck to you in your search for justice. Nail this lady, and you''ve won a little victory for all of us against all the a-holes on the road these days.
Joedeth
Ironjoe
Hope they yank her friggin'' license. I hate idiot drivers, it makes my harken back to the days when I owned a 1973 El Camino, solid steel and some chrome thrown in for good measure. Nothing short of a tractor trailer would mess with that car in traffic. *sniff*
I loved that car/truck, everything except the gas mileage (app 12 mpg highway.)
Quintin_Stone wrote:
lunabean wrote:YEAH!!!!
Brannil = my brother. When he told me what happened I was seething.
I really, really hope they can do something and that jackass doesn''t get away with the ""wasn''t me"" defense. Hopefully reporting a plate number so close will be a substantive tool in your favor.
All this science I don't understand. It's just my job five days a week.
I can''t believe there''s not a proggy that can brute-force permutations on a partial or mixed up plate # and match it against car descriptions.
"If you're not a stinky-stink, you're not addicted to anything!" - Reaper
There may be something like that Sway, but if you start juxtaposing all the letters and numbers next to each other and turning Fs into Ps without a make and model, it could be quite a list.
All this science I don't understand. It's just my job five days a week.
Yeah, I couldn''t ask the trooper to go phishing for every possible number combo. But it seems like he is off duty today, so now I''m playing the waiting game. But at least if there''s SLIGHT damage to the other car, it''s proof enough. His only job is to check the car and ask a few questions, then write down whatever the other driver says, even if it''s ""I wasn''t there"". Then the insurance companies have to hash it out I guess. The perfect ending for me would be if they cought her, proved it was her and made her pay for it... as long as I feel justice has been done. I''m not looking for payback or anything, all I want is to know that this person is held responsible for their actions.
That makes one of us. I think all of us in the audience are looking for payback. There better be payback!
"If you're not a stinky-stink, you're not addicted to anything!" - Reaper
I''m thoroughly entertained that you saw the same vehicle driving the same way. I would have figured that getting into an accident by being an asshole would at least slow you down for a couple of days...
Hope you can throw the book at her. (I''d recommend the Brittanica; nice and heavy...)
MechaSlinky wrote:
-on L4DWhen I started reading the story I figured, ya the person is a total jackass for running away, but the collision may have been a true accident, a ""one of those days"" kind of thing...
...but when I got to the part where she was driving like that again, I though F***in-right! Nail that b**ch!
I bet she has prior convictions and ran away the first time cause she knows she is gonna get busted big-time.
Codexica - GWJ Alliance
I can hope so. =) ok, then. If I do catch her, I''ll go for revenge to appease you.
I''ve had a few days to calm down a little although I''d still like to see that person wrapped around a tree one day so I can stop and laugh my ass of right in her face! From the 2 times I''ve ever seen this car driving, I''m pretty sure I CAN''T be the only one who''s got a complaint against this car!
While we''re waiting for the (hopefully) happy ending to Brannil''s story, I''ll provide one of mine that''s somewhat similar. It''s a little long, but pretty entertaining.
Last summer during the road construction peak hours I was stuck in a pretty major backup. Two of the heaviest traveled lanes in town were forced to merge into one right before the intersection busiest intersection in the county. I''m in my little Mercury Cougar in the right lane, and some jackass in a P.O.S. Bronco immediately to my left starts merging into my lane. Now, there''s a car in front of me and behind, so I''m not going anywhere. Well, he slowly starts to merge to the right...INTO MY CAR! I start honking, yelling, looking for something to throw at him as he continues to scrape along my car and merge into my lane. He got ahead of me as traffic starts moving a little, but then eventually we''re were stopped again, two cars away from the intersection. The guy was obviously ignoring me, and I was so pissed I got out of my car and confronted him (again, traffic not moving). He tells me he didn''t realize he hit me, and says he''ll pull over after getting through the intersection. I walk back to my car, traffic starts again, he turns right, then floors it down the highway. Much like Brannil, I was momentarily stunned. I might have even got out a ""you gotta be f*cking me"". Eventually I got some of my witts back, and actually chased after him. Probably a bad move on my part since I had a pretty good description of his car, but like I said, rational thought hadn''t returned yet.
So I''m chasing this guy down a busy 4 lane highway, weaving in and out of traffic and I start to think, ""What am I going to do if I catch up to him? Run him off the road?"" So I pull out my cell and call the cops, all the while whipping in and out of traffic. I gave my location and a brief description of what happened. They told me they had someone 5 minutes away. While talking to them I actually managed to catch up to this ass-hat, pulled up next to him and got him to pull into a parking lot probably 4 miles from the scene of the accident. After we park he comes over to me and says he''s sorry, but he couldn''t find a place to pull over. For 4 freaking miles! I pointed out the damage to my car, and he again says, ""yeah, sorry about that.""
The cop finally gets there, and asks me what happen. I explain it, then he asks the other guy who, I sh*t you not, says, ""I have no idea what he''s talking about."" My adrenaline was going pretty good by that point, and I may have made a move towards this guy, but the cop apparently realized it and stepped between us. Fortunately he was able to match the damage on my car to the damage on that monkeyspank''s Bronco. He gave up his insurance information, which I was positive was going to be falsified. He was apparently insured by the construction company he was working for, and was from out of state. Thankfully it cleared and paid for all $1250 worth of damage. I was reprimanded by the officer for chasing the guy down, but all I could think of was that they would never find him, and I''d be stuck with the bill like Brannil may be.
Happy ending to the story. The cop called me a week later to tell me the jackhole that hit me had been arrested for drunk driving.
"Shop smart. Shop S Mart!"
-- Ash, Housewares
Sometimes you wish people like this would crash right in front of you and then the car catches on fire and then she jumps out on fire and then tears her blouse off and then her tits pop out and then you run over and then start massaging her cans and then you bend her over the fender and then.......I`m sorry....what were we talking about?
Is it true sailors are "every ounce a seaman?"
What the hell was that all about? /\\
Quintin_Stone wrote:
lunabean wrote:Stick it to ''em! I need the conclusion! I want to hear about civil charges, hit-and-run booking, and visits from female inmates.
Don''t let us down.
Live: LiquidmantisGWJ | PSN: LiquidmantisGWJ
Web: Mantis on the Mountain
--
Women can't be in the same room with me without abandoning men forever - rabbit
This would be a nice alternate ending on the DVD.
Do you ever walk alone like a drifter in the dark?
Best of luck Brannil. Considering my wife received a back injury that will plague her for the rest of her life when a stupid b**** hit us, and said b**** proceeded to lie under oath that we hit her, I hope you get sweet sweet revenge.
As a side note, I believe running from an accident is a felony in many states. Maybe she''ll get jail time!
Graktar, Orc Hunter
I think Shotgun Phil needs some more saltpeter in his food. Either that or he has been watching Crash too much...
Cyrana Mage 80 ~ Artesia Druid 72
Cyranna Shaman 62 ~ Acereri - DK 61 ~ Artasian - Priest 59 ~ Lenna - Rogue 60
Crazy stuff. Tell us how it ends!
XBLive: Thin J
PSN: Thin_J
I don't imagine master craftsmen leaping away from completed projects and shouting "Done, motherf*ckers! - 1Dgaf
Open the damned box!
OH, wait. Wrong thread.
-Bad Mojo
And man that dog looks like he's having a good time, but that monkey is f*cking into it. This isn't his recreation; this is his life and he knows it in a way I will never know anything. --Danjo Olivaw
I''m still waiting to hear back from the trooper. It''s bothering me how long this is taking, so if I can''t get in contact with him tomorrow, I''m going to ask the state police to assign me a new trooper. =(
HOHOHO! That''s so humorous, painting me as a semi-literate psychopathic murderer!
My rates are cheap as nearly free when shanking isn''t involved. When it is (and let''s be honest, when isn''t it) there is only a small fee associated with travel expenses and bleach, otherwise the job itself is free.
Good luck, Brannil!
I''ve a story myself about automotive justice. It took six months for me to even receive a court date on my incident but it all came up Reaper after the judge was through with it. I paid a smallish fine, got off with a warning, (I was a wee-bit proactive in my defensive driving. I genuinely believed my life to be in danger. The judge prefered I not take such... action in the future and rather head directly to the police station or otherwise get the help of law enforcement. I agreed that I was rather ""stupid."") and had nothing placed on my record.
The other guy (with a list of priors a mile long) got convicted of wreckless endangerment and got slapped with a harsher penalty than normal due to the priors. I think he violated probation or something.
They may be slower than we like at times but I''ve found the wheels of justice to spin true.
"If Blizzard announces a subscription fee for Diablo III we will have to build a second Internet to make room for all the complaining." - muttonchop