You Cannot Make a Silk Purse Out of....

Between a wonderful fishing vacation and a quick, super fun trip to Las Vegas to celebrate our 25th anniversary, I had a little accident. Well, not really so little since the repairs are over $9000 and include the whole left side of my beloved car (who cries when they see their car being towed away)? But, I was not hurt other than psychologically and that is the real good news since I was pushed forward right past a telephone pole. And, the car is repairable which I opted for because when I went to look at a replacement it was going to cost the same as a house in a short sale and had so many new bells and whistles I actually got depressed thinking about adjusting to something so complicated. It actually would back itself into a parking space - honest to goodness - Sam tried it.

The accident itself has created a bigger problem than just getting a rental and waiting for the repairs. I was cited for turning left from a right hand lane. The State Highway patrol officer determined this by the skid marks of the truck. According to a witness who turned around, came back to the scene and gave me his contact info but could not stay because he had to get to work - I was absolutely innocent, in the left lane with my blinker on and in front of him. I did not have the witness's backup information until later in the day when Harry went to visit him after waiting around for the police officer to do his job - which he never did.

A flat bed truck towing a trailer with a forklift on it (and no trailer brakes we later discovered), was tailgating the witness (or "up his ass" as he so indelicately proclaimed) and the witness was driving behind me. When the witness moved to the right hand lane to get out of the way of the truck, apparently Mr. Truck could not stop as I slowed to make my turn and opted to go off road to my left in order to avoid rear-ending me. All I could and can recall from the accident is that I was planning to turn left at an upcoming intersection and I suddenly heard a truck horn and then my car was scraped and pushed forward. When I stopped moving, the truck barrelled past me and I did not think he was going to be able to stop before hitting a building. His trailer scraped the telephone pole (and it has to be replaced) which slowed him down. When you have an accident that is unexpected (you do not see it coming) it is really surreal and very disorienting. I kept saying to the Patrolman "I do not understand what happened." And, I really didn't until the witness drew a diagram and explained it.

But, the patrolman did not go see the witness until Harry called his superior later in the day. The following day I still had not heard anything so we called the witness who told us he had been visited, no worries, the ticket was going to be dropped. Elation! Then, another phone call a short time later from the witness telling me that the supervisor re-visited the witness, said they would not drop the ticket, they would make a fool of the witness on the stand, and did he still want to testify. He said he told them "see you in court" and told me not to worry, he would be there. The witness was mad! I feel badly, that this kind good Samaritan goes out of his way to do the right thing and ends up being harassed! I cannot send him anything or even thank him properly until this is over but I hope he senses how grateful I am by what I said to him on the phone after our first conversation.

So, here is the dilemma. I can pay the fine and have my insurance go up and have this over with. I can go to driving school, no ticket fine and have my insurance go up. Or, I can plead not guilty (which I did), get a hearing, hire an attorney for over $900 and hopefully get the charges dropped before going to court (which would cost even more money in legal fees) and NOT have my insurance go up. Great choices. All costing me money because Patrolman R. Rodriguez would not do his job and interview a witness before writing a ticket nor would he change an existing ticket (apparently that never happens I later learned from the attorney).

I can understand why Egyptians are protesting. What else can you do when you do not have the money or the power to fight a corrupt system. My accident is a very minor incident in the larger spectrum of world issues, but it is also indicative of the sense of hopelessness that we feel when we are subjected to authority and have no voice. I trusted a patrolman to do a job as he promised so that I would get a fair judgement. Just like my earlier blog about the TSA, it is important to stand up for ourselves and then try to right injustices. It is the only way to help prevent it from happening to someone else.