collide

Durham, NC. Corner of Morgan and Morris- My first car crash occurred last night. I am in the car with the dotted lines. The blue car was stolen and being chased by a cop. As I was attempting to pull into the RBC Centura lot, I got side swiped and did a 180. It was a "drive by" type of thing.

Some notes:
1. Thank you Christa, DATA bus driver who was in the parked car by Centura bank. She saw everything, got out of her car, called 911 immediately on her cell, and hugged me because I was freaked out and upset. I hit my head on my window and the car got smooshed in pretty good on the drivers side. I wouldn't have known what to do AT ALL if she had not been there as I don't have a cell phone and I was facing the opposite way all of a sudden for no apparent reason.

2. This is not the best drawing of the accident (Morgan is three lanes, I think, etc. etc.).

3. For once, something besides grad school caused me to freak out! Hooray. After everything got reported to the police, I drove home and danced around with the cat. My priorities? Realigned, yo. Not world shifting or anything but it really helps to get out of my little bubble.

4. Cars suck. We shouldn't have set things up this way. I crashed into a pedestrian on my bicycle once and aside from the embarrassment, we were completely unscathed. Transportation is key to meeting the needs of large populations but the car option is too expensive and unhealthy. The use of automobiles promotes individualism to the detriment of community bonds, generates false symbols of wealth that help to separate and stratify people, and reinforces a culture of spontaneity which, although not inherently problematic, hurts our ability to think in the long term about how our actions affect others despite good intentions.

5. My car still drives quite well. I will file an insurance claim and everything but body work is the only thing that is needed. Last night J. declared that I would "drive my car into the ground". And to think that I used to be a bit proud of my Toyota. When I first got it, I gave it baths and attempted to wax it and stuff. If the insurance won't cover the body work (quite possible) I'm going to be tempted to enter demo derbys. Seriously. If you're going to drive a beater, go all the way.