Losing Getty Center Roulette

[Ghoulish Delight]

If you drive the Sepulveda Pass as much as we do, you're bound to eventually walk away (hopefully) with a story like this.

Spoiler alert: everyone is fine

Southbound, just past Skirball, CP is driving in the 2nd lane from the right. Traffic is dense, but moving at basically freeway speed. I catch sight of an SUV fishtailing in the carpool lane a ways ahead of us. It hits the divider, and bounces off into lanes. I lose sight of it. CP never saw it. She heard me gasping, and sees brake lights, so she starts to slow. Next thing we know, it's in our lane and she's got no chance to stop. We hit it probably still going around 30, our front right hit their rear right pretty squarely. Then the SUV hit the wall on the right and the car to our right hit the SUV, less hard than us.

No one in any car was seriously injured, amazingly. It all could have been much much much worse. But our car is in pretty bad shape, undrivable. Got towed to an impound, then taken to an airport car rental. Finally got home 3 hours later or so.

T was indescribably amazing through it all. He was asleep before it happened. No idea at what point he woke up, but he didn't show any sign of real distress beyond being a little bit stunned, so I'm guessing he was pretty much asleep at impact and has no real idea what happened. By the end he was mostly upset that we had to leave the "Happy Honda" behind (as was I).

We'll see what tomorrow brings. Tonight just feeling...shell shocked and appreciative of wha tI have.

g'night

[lashbear]

OMG!! Glad you're all OK. Sounds like a straightforward case - your insurance won't have any problems repairing the Happy Honda?

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by lashbear

OMG!! Glad you're all OK. Sounds like a straightforward case - your insurance won't have any problems repairing the Happy Honda?

Hopefully it will be the SUV driver's insurance that pays. In California, the driver that is determined to be "at fault" is on the hook. These days they get very particular about who's at fault (ask € about being partially responsible for someone else running a red and hitting him), so I'm not holding my breath that they won't say that CP should have been able to stop in time or some such rot and give her partial fault. But either way, we have insurance to cover any portion, so not a problem. Now it's just a matter of determining if whichever insurance company is paying will pay to repair the car or if they'll consider it "totaled" (i.e., the repair costs more than the value of the car), which would suck. Hondas fortunately hold their value so should be alright.

[3894]

Thank heavens you're okay. That was a close call.

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

These days they get very particular about who's at fault (ask € about being partially responsible for someone else running a red and hitting him), so I'm not holding my breath that they won't say that CP should have been able to stop in time or some such rot and give her partial fault.

When a doofus ran a red at 5 a.m. and totaled our Jeep, the police said it was 110% fault of the driver who ran the red. Insurance company said it was 20% my hubbo's fault because somehow he should have anticipated the accident.

Which was crazy and seemed insulting at the time. It was explained to us that no matter what, the victim will be at least 20% at fault, according to the insurance company.

[Morrigoon]

Wow, I'm so glad you're okay!

Make sure their insurance pays for the replacement car seat too.

[DreadPirateRoberts]

Glad you are ok.

[cirquelover]

I'm glad everyone is ok. Hopefully they can fix the Honda, otherwise I hope they pay you fairly and you find a great replacement.

[lashbear]

Sorry, It's the same here - I meant that the fault seems pretty straight forward with the fish-taily guy. I hope.

Have you named your car? IF not, or if you get a replacement vehicle you can call it Fenry.

Fenry Honda.

[mousepod]

Scary story. I'm so glad you're all ok.

Last week, I had a conversation with a friend who was recovering from pretty severe injuries as a result of a motorcycle accident. I was saying that while I appreciated how much fun it must be to ride a bike on the freeway, I'd rather be protected by my vehicle.

Dealing with auto insurance can be a headache... but it's just paperwork.

[Betty]

Don't be surprised if you guys are a little sore today. Sorry to hear about it. Hope it gets resolved quickly.