Tuesday, October 12, 2010

No sympathy

I got a call from my dad about 3:45 today as I was driving home from school. My sister had been in a car accident. I asked what he wanted me to do. He told me that he wanted me to drive down to her college with him to pick her up. That told me the car was probably totaled.

I know how my dad doesn't handle stress well, so I gently eased the details out of him. I asked where she was, what was going on, etc. He told me she ran into someone and she was too distraught to drive.

My sister was at fault. She was near her college, trying to get on the freeway, she hit the gas instead of the brake, and barreled into the lady. The lady was injured and taken away in an ambulance.

My sister was too distraught to do anything. I guess the injured lady called 9-1-1 because my sister was too distraught. She didn't get any of the lady's information.

I was not shocked when she told me this. She didn't even know where she was. She told my dad she was on the 91, then she said she was on the 57, then she said the 241. We drove past the 241 and did not see her. We drove down the 91 and did not see her. We used the traffic maps from sigalert.com on my iphone to see where an accident was and maybe find her. My sister just did not know. I was getting frustrated because I was driving and I was getting information from my dad. I finally told my sister to go, walk, and tell me what she was near. She broke out in tears. I told her to go look and got really upset at her. She said she was in a parking lot, and told us which one. She wasn't. I was so mad when she wasn't. We parked in the parking lot she claimed, got out, walked around the restaurant, and saw her on the onramp. She was on the onramp to the street her college is on. So I was frustrated after driving 45 minutes home, then another hour only to play goose chase with dumbo.

We found my sister finally on the onramp like I said. She didn't know if the car was drivable- she was just pulled over onto the shoulder. We figured since she is in a big Crown Vic that there wasn't a ton of damage. My sister's front grill was pushed in, her light was broken, and she had some major paint chips on the bumper. The lady she hit was probably totaled from what I hear. Dumbo hadn't bothered to try to call a tow truck and just sat there crying as everyone left.

We started to drive my sister's car and got about a mile. We stopped at Burger King and saw antifreeze all over below. We called AAA, the Automobile Club of Southern California. We only have 7 miles towing, but I called and offered to upgrade our Automobile Club membership to have the car towed 40 miles home. The gal helping me spoke to her supervisor who said that they would not allow us to upgrade our membership so we could avoid paying an absorbinant fee to tow the car. They just lost $60.00 or so- their hard luck. I'm so sick of AAA by the way- the last time I had a flat tire they didn't even come- I'm about to file a complaint. Anyways, we spent about 20 minutes on the phone trying to find a local repair shop. They gave a bunch of names and we finally asked for a Ford dealer for the car. Got that, then it took about 20 minutes for the tow to come. The car will be delivered there tomorrow.

I was sad when I saw the car. Sad that it looked so bad. I felt even worse for the lady. My sister made a big mistake and this lady had to go to the hospital because of it. I have been debating the entire evening should I have sympathy for my sister? She is a SCARY driver. I am a fast driver- I know- but she is a SCARY driver. She is very fast, always doing something like playing on the phone I suspect, and I'm scared to be in the car with her. My sister is so irresponsible it is stupid. She was told what to do in an accident and told what to do. I don't buy that she was so distraught she didn't know what to do or forgot. She's just stupid. She was warned to not drive so irresponsibly. She was told to not wear the shoes she was wearing while driving. She was told to keep her phone in her purse on the floor- I don't know if the phone was involved. I know my parent's insurance will probably go waaaaaaaaaaaaay up because Sis was responsible for an accident. I feel bad for the lady. Not my sister.

And my final reason why I don't feel sorry for my sister? I get so scared often- as soon as yesterday morning when I was driving, had just merged on the freeway to go to work, and some gal made a lane change into the collector lane where I was. She wasn't paying attention to the slow traffic, and I watched her scramble as she nearly plowed into me. I recall when I was rearended last November by a distracted driver- I had no damage to my car, but that still sticks in my mind as I watched the car come into me in my rearview mirror.

It took 87 minutes to get home at 5p.m. via the 91.

If anything I give her credit for admitting she admitted the accident was her fault- and that took a lot.

6 comments:

Aek said...

Wow. Just wow. I can actually understand someone being so distraught that all reason gets tossed out the window. But after that long, one should really have calmed down to think more logically. :-/

fan of casey said...

Mike: While you don't have sympathy for your sister, at least big bro comes to the rescue! Good thing she was in a big vehicle. When I had my little Honda CR-V, I got rear-ended twice, both times around Halloween. The police told me upon inspecting the damage one time "Tough little car!" Tough my ass, it costs almost 3k to fix, on the other guy's insurance. So the only thing i don't understand is doesn't the police get called when there's an injury? They couldn't help your sister? The main thing is she wasn't hurt; you can always repair the car. The next worry is how's the other lady? And yes, insurance is bound to go up. Well, you did your good deed for day altho it was frustrating as hell.

Mike said...

Aek: I really think my sister just didn't know.

Fan of casey: I just found out my sister hit a CRV. That explains why my sister's car was damaged the way it was with the tire in back on the CRV.

I am only getting the secondhand details. Sister isn't talking. I only hear the bits that have been drug out from my dad as he tries to call the insurance company because she's not capable. I guess the lady that was injured called 9-1-1 and the police came. Her CRV sustained major damage and was towed. My sister refused to get towed.

I am not sure how the other lady is. I hope she is doing well too. My mom is trying to find that out.

I just can't even imagine.

fan of casey said...

Mike: Exactly right about the CR-V tire on back. 1st time I got hit by another SUV, with the higher bumper it rammed into the tire hanging off the rear tailgate, not so much damage. 2nd time I got hit by a Camry (Like your Crown Vic), means most of the impact absorbed by the hood and radiator, not the bumper, so lots of front end damage. That explains your loss of anti-freeze. Which means repairs are going to cost $$$$.

DId your sis even thank you for coming to her rescue?

Anonymous said...

She was like my sister, Hazel, only that the latter provided us details after her involvement in a car accident. However, we've known that she caused the accident because she's using her cellphone minutes before the car collision happened. She wasn't harmed by the way, yet there's a need for her car to be repaired. Thankfully, the best repairmen from a Dallas dent repair company repaired her car well. Thanks for sharing about your sister's involvement in a car accident, Mike! I understand how you feel.

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