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A narrow escape...
...where ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
marypcb and I are lucky to be here.
Driving down the M4 to Reading in heavy traffic (and heavy rain) this morning my car was side-swiped by a Czech juggernaut that hadn't seen me. The first I knew that he'd decided to pull out was the grinding noise as his protruding hub-cap removed the paint off the side of my car. That was the point where he realised I was there too, so luckily he swerved back into the inner lane. I managed to keep the car under control (there's a lot of kinetic energy in a 42 tonne truck - even if it is a glancing blow), avoided being pushed into the outer lane, and slowly and carefully pulled into the hard shoulder.
Here's where things got a little better. The truck pulled over too, so I didn't have to worry about trying to track down the driver across the EU. The driver came over to me as I looked at the scrape down the side of my car, and in fractured English apologised and admitted he hadn't seen me.
Ha! The one bit of good news in the whole thing, an admission of liability. Thankfully I had my camera with me, so I have pictures of the damage to my car, the truck that caused it, the driver of the truck, and his green card. The last is the most important, as it means I can get the repairs done without having to pay the excess.
My sad little car...
...and the hulking great lorry that swiped it...
marypcb and I are lucky to be here.Driving down the M4 to Reading in heavy traffic (and heavy rain) this morning my car was side-swiped by a Czech juggernaut that hadn't seen me. The first I knew that he'd decided to pull out was the grinding noise as his protruding hub-cap removed the paint off the side of my car. That was the point where he realised I was there too, so luckily he swerved back into the inner lane. I managed to keep the car under control (there's a lot of kinetic energy in a 42 tonne truck - even if it is a glancing blow), avoided being pushed into the outer lane, and slowly and carefully pulled into the hard shoulder.
Here's where things got a little better. The truck pulled over too, so I didn't have to worry about trying to track down the driver across the EU. The driver came over to me as I looked at the scrape down the side of my car, and in fractured English apologised and admitted he hadn't seen me.
Ha! The one bit of good news in the whole thing, an admission of liability. Thankfully I had my camera with me, so I have pictures of the damage to my car, the truck that caused it, the driver of the truck, and his green card. The last is the most important, as it means I can get the repairs done without having to pay the excess.
My sad little car...
...and the hulking great lorry that swiped it...
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I had a close call like that a couple of years ago, when a huge tourist bus was trying to exit the highway and didn't see our little car there in the next lane. Thankfully there was no actual contact in that case, but it was plenty scary.
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I'm glad you're both all right. I hope your car is repairable. My dad's been in two accidents involving large trucks and walked away from each, but both times the car was killed.
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I'm glad you were both OK.
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These big trucks are crying out for some kind of proximity detector that'll warn the driver if there's something low and fast close alongside them ...
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Blessings!
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Will take 6 months or more to sort out....
Is a good thing you both came out unscathed though...
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(Anonymous) 2005-07-01 12:22 am (UTC)(link)no subject
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Glad your ok..
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And another great use of digital technoogy too - maybe you can write an article on that and get something positive out of the experience.
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