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my turn

The last time I was involved in an accident, Ronald Reagan was in the White
House and you could still buy a new Mk1 Scirocco at your local VW dealer. So 
I guess I was due.. maybe way overdue.

Today while doing the 100-mile trip to my sister's place in San Diego, I was
minding my own business doing about 70 in lane #1 on I-5 north of town, in 
very light traffic and in and out of light rain, when I looked up in my 
mirror to see a Dodge Cirrus loaded with 4 high school girls bearing down on
me at about 95 mph - and I quickly noticed that the driver wasn't looking 
where she was going.  I stood on the gas and elected to stay in my lane, 
knowing that if I moved to the right she could do the same thing if she 
spotted me in time.  She looked up, I caught that "OH SHIT!!!" panic on her 
face as she flung the wheel to the right and BARELY missed me.  But she was 
going so fast she lost control and did a 180 and slammed into my passenger 
side - with her driver's side.  They are all damn lucky that they didn't 
then get nailed by about 10 more cars before she was able to limp off 
the freeway.

Thankfully, everyone is OK, and I was driving the Passat, not the rocco.
I called the CHP and waited for them to arrive to take a report.  I wasn't
sure they'd even want to bother with no injuries and as it turns out, both
cars driveable.  About an hour later the cop shows up and tells me we didn't
really have to file a report as long as we had exchanged all pertinent info,
but since he was there, he'd be glad to take one anyways.  I was about to tell
him to go ahead and be on his way, when he asked the driver "so, it sounds
like you already understand this was your fault?", to which she readily
agreed.  I turned back to the cop and said "go ahead and take that report!",
which he did.. so I shouldn't have any insurance hassles with her story
changing tomorrow.

This was a real wakeup call for me.  I consider myself to be a safe and
defensive driver, but all it takes is some kid or drunk who is neither, and
it can ruin your whole day - or a lot worse.  If you happen to be in a rocco
or other small, older car at the time, it can REALLY ruin your day.

Be careful out there!!

--
Kevin Collins
Huntington Beach, CA
'86.5 16V 2.0
'00 Passat GLS 1.8T