A Good Good Day gone Very Very Bad....
It's a beautiful day and I start my morning like ususal. I do my early morning exercise and head out of the apartment earlier than usual. I'm feeling good because i'm excited about getting tons of things done on my list today. I reach the usual corner before I make my right turn. A little ways to my left a car is coming, I could wait a bit for it (and be stuck behind a slow truck) or make a quick right to get in front of it. I decide to do the latter and a subsequent stream of events makes me wish I had just waited.... If only...
So, in front of this truck, I drive straight down the road that I take every morning to go to work. At what is called a T intersection here, I notice a car coming towards my direction on the right lane. I'm going striaght and so is that car so no problems, right? But, as I get closer to the intersection the car stops and signals to make a right. No problem , I'm so close to the intersection the car has to realize it won't make it in time by the time it gets to the turning point. Yet as I reach the T intersection suddenly I notice that the car ins't actually going to stay put, but that it's decided to turn. With me being 15-20 feet away. In my head all I can think about is NooooOoooOooo!?! this person isn't crazy enough to turn when I'm sooooo close to it. So I jam on my brakes, but, too late. The driver overestimated the distance and hits the front right side of the drivers side and sends me and the car plummeting towards oncoming traffic. While being flown to the left and I managed (thank God!) to avoid hitting any oncoming cars or bicylists to my left. Yet the impact sends me straight into a wall. All the while I'm thinking, "No, I'm not in an accident. No, I'm not in an accident. No this isn't happening..." After my car finally stops my first thought is actually, "Oh my gosh, is my car okay? Can I still drive it?" When I start to move it and find it immobile, I think "no no no....NO!!!!" So I get out of the car and check it and am crushed with the sight. The left front side (the side that hit the wall) is completely totaled with the left front tire twisted to an abnormal 180 degree position. My car doesn't just look gone, it is gone. Other things also rolled around in my head, like "why in the world did this dude decide to turn at the last minute?," but my car's dilapitated state is what is constantly pushed back forward. Above all else, but "I NEED my car!!! I nEEEEEEd it!" And funny enough, the other guy's car didn't have a scratch. Not a single one. In fact, he was able to drive away the accident with his car completely intact.
If you didn't know, I live in the sticks, and without my car I would have no social life. It had kept me connected with my fellow English teachers and independent of the virtually nonexistant public transportation system in my town. And now it's gone.
But what's really annoying from this event is the following.... The moment the driver stepped out of the car, he kept apologizing and admitting how he was in the wrong. He asked me if I were okay and called the police. He said it was his fault and he didn't hesitat to admit this to even the cops when they came. (Totally unique to Japan, eh? Who would admit to being in fault back at home?) It happened because he "hadn't seen me," he said. HADN'T seen me?!!! How couldn't he? I was RIGHT in front of him!!!!! I honestly think he was preoccupied with something else. Because there was no way he couldn't have seen me.
Looking back though I can't help but think that if I would have let that other car get in front of me earlier, maybe all of this wouldn't have happened. But there's no use in looking back. What happened happened and I can only be grateful for the fact that I was able to walk away from the accident without a single scratch. And if you saw my car you would say the same thing too. Thank you Lord.
So, in front of this truck, I drive straight down the road that I take every morning to go to work. At what is called a T intersection here, I notice a car coming towards my direction on the right lane. I'm going striaght and so is that car so no problems, right? But, as I get closer to the intersection the car stops and signals to make a right. No problem , I'm so close to the intersection the car has to realize it won't make it in time by the time it gets to the turning point. Yet as I reach the T intersection suddenly I notice that the car ins't actually going to stay put, but that it's decided to turn. With me being 15-20 feet away. In my head all I can think about is NooooOoooOooo!?! this person isn't crazy enough to turn when I'm sooooo close to it. So I jam on my brakes, but, too late. The driver overestimated the distance and hits the front right side of the drivers side and sends me and the car plummeting towards oncoming traffic. While being flown to the left and I managed (thank God!) to avoid hitting any oncoming cars or bicylists to my left. Yet the impact sends me straight into a wall. All the while I'm thinking, "No, I'm not in an accident. No, I'm not in an accident. No this isn't happening..." After my car finally stops my first thought is actually, "Oh my gosh, is my car okay? Can I still drive it?" When I start to move it and find it immobile, I think "no no no....NO!!!!" So I get out of the car and check it and am crushed with the sight. The left front side (the side that hit the wall) is completely totaled with the left front tire twisted to an abnormal 180 degree position. My car doesn't just look gone, it is gone. Other things also rolled around in my head, like "why in the world did this dude decide to turn at the last minute?," but my car's dilapitated state is what is constantly pushed back forward. Above all else, but "I NEED my car!!! I nEEEEEEd it!" And funny enough, the other guy's car didn't have a scratch. Not a single one. In fact, he was able to drive away the accident with his car completely intact.
If you didn't know, I live in the sticks, and without my car I would have no social life. It had kept me connected with my fellow English teachers and independent of the virtually nonexistant public transportation system in my town. And now it's gone.
But what's really annoying from this event is the following.... The moment the driver stepped out of the car, he kept apologizing and admitting how he was in the wrong. He asked me if I were okay and called the police. He said it was his fault and he didn't hesitat to admit this to even the cops when they came. (Totally unique to Japan, eh? Who would admit to being in fault back at home?) It happened because he "hadn't seen me," he said. HADN'T seen me?!!! How couldn't he? I was RIGHT in front of him!!!!! I honestly think he was preoccupied with something else. Because there was no way he couldn't have seen me.
Looking back though I can't help but think that if I would have let that other car get in front of me earlier, maybe all of this wouldn't have happened. But there's no use in looking back. What happened happened and I can only be grateful for the fact that I was able to walk away from the accident without a single scratch. And if you saw my car you would say the same thing too. Thank you Lord.
posted by Shrls at 11:32 PM
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