Car Wreck
3/30/1

Friday, March 30, 2001 is a lousy day.

I woke up and shaved. I was running late so I had two glasses of protein drink for breakfast rather than enjoying some cereal and a magazine. I left the house. It was raining.

As I was taking the exit ramp of I-565 East to Memorial Parkway (US431) South, I lost control of my car. I wasn�t speeding. The wheels just broke loose because of the water and rather than hit the white truck in the lane to my left as I let off the gas to regain control in my front engine, front wheel drive Saturn SC2, I had to hit the brakes and lose even more control of the car.

I say lose even more control, but I knew that when I hit the brakes and the car�s weight was transferred from the center to the front of the car, the back end would brake loose more and the front would almost plant itself. Thus the back end swung around, hitting no one, and I was then traveling backward at around 25 mph, still in my lane.

However, my Video Game Reflexes were not what they should have been. When something like that happens, the modern car likes to turn the engine off. Silly car, if I�d only had the power to my power brakes I could have stopped. But, alas, I had gotten the most out of my one press on the brakes. It didn�t occur to me to pull the handbrake. I hit the wall.

The visible-to-everyone damage is that the back end has a huge scuff on the bumper and the rear left blinker is busted somewhat. However, looking at the spacing of the gaps for the doors and trunk, I think the frame is bent.

I bought the SC2 in January of 1999 for $5000. It is a 1994 model and the way I got it so cheaply is that it is a rebuilt salvage title. In other words, my wreck today didn�t change the value of the car.

In any wreck that I am in, and I haven�t been in many since my teenagership, I always feel that I could have controlled the car better. I have had an accident where the van I was driving had the trailer behind it have a blowout while driving down a hill. The physics involved with the wreck were mainly the oscillating trailer pushing it�s weight and inertia and that of the 1984 Mustang SVO against the back of the van as the van tried to slow down. Eventually the trailer swung around the driver side of the van and whipped the van the other direction. I can draw it on paper, better than I can explain it in text.

People stopped and told us how cool it had looked from behind.

In the wreck I had in November of last year, I didn�t get the feeling that I could have done anything different. The 16-year old kid ran a stop sign and pulled out in front of me. I skidded but did not go into oncoming traffic or the ditch, and hit him soundly on the front left wheel. There were no choices.

The van and trailer wreck had many variables, it lasted a few seconds and slowing was a major concern. I don�t think I could have done much different there either, but I would have really liked to have gotten it under control.

Today�s wreck was one which lasted a while also. If Gran Turismo taught me anything, it is that I could have pulled this out by giving it more gas and turning sharper. But doing such things goes against the basic nature of being out of control. You want to stop and get your bearings.

A stock car racer who works with us told me the same thing. He asked if it was FF or FR (front engine, rear wheel drive). When he got the answer, he said, �You should have turned into it and floored it.�

But I have to say, hindsight may be 20/20, but flooring it in that situation would have been psychotic. There was only 50 more feet of retaining wall on my side keeping me from falling down onto Clinton Avenue. If the GT move didn�t work, I�d fall a great deal, slide on some grass, take out some small trees, and hit a different retaining wall which keeps those exiting to Clinton from those exiting from Clinton.

My guess is that there will be at least $3000 worth of damage to the car, effectively totaling it. However, I don�t think the car shop will rule it totaled, because they�d rather do the work. They will treat my car as if it was not a salvage vehicle and fix it.

Can a car even be totaled twice?

I�ve been rather off since the accident. I knocked some stuff over in the lab and was unable to set it back up right. Jones said, �Maybe you should go home.�

I was talking to Aisai later and wasn�t able to think of simple words which are common to anyone, or names that I obviously know. Aisai said, �Maybe you should go home.�

Well, I didn�t go home. I may have be useless, but I got paid for it.