Car Accident

I was in a car accident a few days ago. There was a stopped car in the interstate and I didn't see it in advance; the car in front of me swerved into another lane and then there it was in front of me. I also swerved but damaged my commuter car, which is old and had many miles on it. The insurance company declared it a total loss. 

The damage was where I scraped along the passenger side of my car (and the driver side of the stopped car). I had no deployment of airbags and no damage from my seat belt; no glass on either car broke, so it was a glancing blow if that makes sense. The front passenger wheel was damaged and I could not drive the car very far. 

I pulled over to the shoulder and dialed 911. A state trooper made sure I was alright and proceeded to take care of the situation. I was moving slowly, aware that I had had a shock to my system and trying not to do anything to worsen the situation (stepping into traffic when I exited my vehicle, etc.)

The trooper took my information for his report and arranged for a tow truck. My wife was kind enough to come out to pick me up (we each have hour-long commutes but she's on the other side so it was nontrivial, making her driving time four hours that day cumulatively). That evening I contacted my insurance company. 

I will be getting a rental car this morning; I would have preferred yesterday but in the past few years I've had this experience of not being able to rent a car immediately so I wasn't surprised. I will have the rental car for a while and will now begin shopping for a new commuter car (used, good mileage, well-maintained).

I am self-obsessed in the best of times (hey, I blog so no surprise there) so I have been trying to assess my reaction to the accident. A half a second faster reaction time and I would have cleared the car when swerving and not had an accident. A half a second slower and I would have hit the stopped car directly. I am fairly confident that the shoulder belt and airbag would have kept me alive but would undoubtedly have injured me in the process. So it was a close thing.

I had started my commute home on the interstate four miles earlier. I was still probably at my most attentive because of having merged into traffic only minutes before. Would I have done worse swerving twenty minutes later, listening to a podcast? I don't know.

Had someone been in the stopped car exiting the driver side (unlikely but possible) I would have killed or maimed them sliding along the car. I will always be grateful that no one was physically injured.

I am achy but I was moving furniture the two days before the accident so it's hard to separate out the pain.

My mind has been distracted but I am often that way when I do not have access to a car and lack an agency that I take for granted. I will have to reevaluate after I have the rental car and eventually a new commuter car.

Meanwhile classes start again next week. My preparation is done so I can pick and choose what I work on.