At approximately 6:30 in the evening on August 27, I was traveling south on Prospect approaching 190th street (see map) in Redondo Beach, CA on my way home from work. The day was clear, and since this was the end of summer, sunset was still about an hour away. I take this route almost every day, and have for the last ten years. This makes for around 3,000 times I have been through this intersection, so I know it quite well. There was a pickup truck heading northbound on Prospect, ready to make a left turn (West) onto 190th.
As I approached the intersection, I saw the pickup start to make the turn, and I thought "Don't you dare". Just as soon as he started, he stopped, and I could see he was looking at me. Then, as I was about 50 feet from the intersection, "Mike" continued the left turn in front of me. His hesitation was the fatal flaw. If he had remained where he was, I could have passed in front of him. If he had continued, I would have passed behind him. But instead, I had nowhere to go but straight into the pickup. I locked the wheels and slid about 20 feet broadside into the truck, the front of my car hitting the bed and right rear wheel of the truck. The impact pushed the truck around maybe 45 degrees and my Corvette rotated about 15 degrees to the right.
Miraculously, the engine was still running (but making loud noises), so I immediately tried to get out of the intersection. Oops, left the car in second gear (forgot to downshift as I braked). Shifted into first and with a little extra gas, got the car out of the intersection and to the side of the road. As I did this, the light was still green, so there was no cross traffic to worry about. I shut sown the engine, and to my immediate left was an ambulance. The crew asked if I was OK and I gave them a "thumbs up" and weakly said "yes" as I checked to see how I felt. Amazingly enough, I did not feel anything wrong. I looked back at the intersection as I got out the car and saw a sad sight. There was a bunch of fiberglass, radiator fluid (new since I just replaced the lower hose), and the entire headlight assembly lying in the road. I ran over there and picked up the headlight assembly which looked to be in good shape. The headlights were still intact and everything looked fine. Good thing, since I had recently spent a few hundred dollars getting one headlight motor and braket replaced. Everything else there was pretty much worthless.
The ambulance crew radioed the police and went to check on the other car. I figured someone might be injured since the impact would be sideways to them, possibly knocking the passenger into the door or window. The police showed up and helped us trade info. "Mike" didn't have his drivers license with him, but Officer "Friendly" checked him out and told me his license was valid. We exchanged info, and "Mike" was really pissed at himself and apologized. He told me he was sorry and that it was a shame that it had to happen to such a nice car as mine. For some reason, I was calm and collected. You would think that I would fly off the handle at something like this, but "Mike" seemed sincere, and the case seemed open and shut, so why get all upset? What would it do anyhow?
"Mike" drove off inhis now more beaten up pickup. Since there were no injuries at the scene, Officer "Friendly" told me that there would be police report. He called a flatbed for me and waited until it arrived. The driver from Frank Scotto Towing hooked up the car and pulled it onto the bed of the tow truck. He then went out and cleaned up some of the debris in the roadway as the police looked on. Since I knew the value of the headlight assembly, I made sure that it was securely on the flatbed with the Corvette.
I was driven home and made the phone call to State Farm (and AAA, "Mike's" insurance company). State Farm said an adjuster would get back with me the next day. AAA said that they had a few days of backlog, and it would be at least three days before the case was assigned. This was a problem, because I was left without a car and needed transportation to get to and from work. Since it seemed obvious that this was the other guys fault, I figured I would try to work with AAA to get a rental.
I took the bus to work the next day and again called AAA. The person I talked to was quite rude and treated me like dirt. I understood that the case was not yet assigned, but I wanted to make this as easy as possible for when AAA took charge. I wanted to avoid a hassle of "you shouldn't have rented from them . . . , now we will not pay for it" or some such from AAA. But the guy would not tell me anything, not even what the AAA policy was for similar cases!
My State Farm adjuster was a little more helpful. She told me I was entitled to equivalent transportation. When I explained to her the problem of finding a '66 Corvette to rent, she said she would put me into a Bonneville or Thunderbird if the tables were turned. I called National and got the "Emerald Aisle" rates. It would be $612/month and I could choose any car from the designated "aisle". After work, I picked up a Bonneville. Not too bad of a car, but nothing compared to the Corvette. It was not "fun" to drive like the 'vette, but it had adequate power and handling.
This page created by, and the opinions of: bcwaller@gmail.com
