It's a sad day here at Unbecoming Levity. As you can see above, my mascot, baby, and faithful companion Vanessa was injured yesterday in a car accident.  Here is the accident diagram I drew and the description I wrote on the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Motor Vehichle Crash Operator Report which I submitted today.

The diagram in the report is not to scale.

I was travelling SW (parallel to Westford Road) inside the Flint's Corner Shopping Ctr parking lot, having entered from Dunstable Road. I don't know my exact speed, but it was appropriate for a parking lot. The other driver was driving through the parking lot toward the Westford Road entrance (heading NW). The sun was ahead and slightly to the left of me, creating glare off the snowpack on the lot. When Mr. name-omitted emerged from the lane between the rows of parked cars I realized he wasn't stopping and I was already too close to stop in time so I applied my brakes (at “A” on the diagram). I don't know if Mr. name-omitted ever saw me or applied his brakes. His car did not appear to slow. Because of the snowy surface my car slid, rotated slightly to the right, and impacted the other car at “B” (the front driver corner of my car impacted the front passenger wheel of his car). My airbag did not deploy, but the side airbag of the other car did. The combined momentum of the vehicles pushed both of them WNW until they came to rest at “C”. Mr. name-omitted was blocking the incoming lane of the entrance, but his front passenger wheel appeared to be broken. Since I was blocking the outgoing lane, I backed my car away from Mr. name-omitted's and drove it a short distance NE to park it at the side of the outgoing lane of the entrance (at “D”). Mr. name-omitted and I got out of our vehicles. Neither of us was injured. I apologized for hitting his car, and then he called the police while I called for roadside assistance. An officer from the Tyngsboro PD arrived shortly thereafter and collected all the information. No ticket was issued to me, nor (as far as I know) to the other driver.

Mr. Name-Omitted called for a tow from someplace up in Nashua.  They were there in about 15 minutes and got him out of there.  I called Triple-A and found them as useless and unresponsive as ever, despite my gold membership.  For the record: I have NEVER had a good experience with Triple-A… and I would never recommend them to anyone.  If you want to freese your ass off by the side of the road for hours on end, get Triple-A.  You're better off with a cellphone and a police officer calling for a tow.

After waiting about 40 minutes, the towing company called me to tell me they would not tow my car to LeBlanc's Auto Body in Fitchburg (the place recommended by my dealer).  Instead they wanted to take it “someplace local because of the weather”  (I should note: the highways were clear and dry, and Tyngsboro is only about 30 minutes from Fitchburg… it's not exactly a long haul and well within my 75 miles towing coverage from Triple-A.)

So I then called Triple-A back and they absolutely refused to budge.  I was furious and yelling at the poor sap on the phone saying “What the hell am I paying you people for?”  I told her I would get my own tow, thank you very much.  Then I called the auto body place where the car was ultimately going.  Their exact words were “No problem.  We'll be there in a half hour with our flatbed.”  As they work with my insurance company, the insurance will cover the tow.

While waiting about for the police, triple-A, and so forth, my good friend Jay who lives in Tyngsboro came out to keep me company.  I had stopped at the plaza to pick up lunch on my way over to Jay's  Jay has a new wide screen TV and we were supposed to spend the afternoon playing HALO.  As it turned out, poor Jay spent the afternoon ferrying me around and standing about while I dealt with the fallout from my accident.

My compliments are extended to Jay for being an unwavering and steadfast friend in my time of need, to LeBlanc's Auto Body for helping me out so courteously and professionally, and to the officer from the Tyngsboro PD who was on the scene.  He was very professional, and seemed to feel that the other driver and I were equally at fault given the conditions.

Oh yeah, and a big fat FUCK YOU to Triple-A.

Today I went over to LeBlanc's to take pictures of poor Vanessa, then I went to the Fitchburg PD to get the accident forms.  After that we drove up to the Tyngsboro PD to drop off the completed forms and took a quick trip over to the scene of the accident to grab a few pictures.

Needless to say, I'm pretty depressed.  Poor Vanessa is going to need a new front bumper, bumper cowling, grille, right and left front fenders, hood, and there is some damage to her passenger door which will not open.  You can check the photo album “Vanessa's Bad Day” to see more pictures of Vanessa's damage and other images related to the accident.

  Damn.  I love that car.