Son of a…
I’ve been known to be a somewhat “aggressive” driver and I don’t have a lot of patience for people who block the flow of traffic out of sheer idiocy. I’m something of a stickler for the rules of the road as well: if you’re in the left lane, pass or get out of the way; the right lane is for slower traffic, not passing; driving an SUV does not make you God. However, even I understand that during rush hour traffic is going to be a fact of life and something which cannot be avoided or changed. Therefore, when in traffic, I tend to get in the left lane (to avoid merging traffic from on-ramps) and stay a good car-length away from the car in front of me. This generally works fine in the clogged areas of the highways in MA, but occasionally some assclowns decided to “get into it” with one another.
That’s what happened to me on the way home from work on Friday. I’m driving along in the left lane in somewhat heavy traffic during rush hour when all of the sudden, every car in front of me slams on the brakes and comes to a dead stop from 45-50MPH. I react as quickly as I can, but my brakes lock up and I slide into the car in front of me (a Lexus, of course). No one’s hurt, which is a good thing, and the Lexus sustained minor, cosmetic damage to its rear bumper. My car was not so lucky. I guess I can thank crumple zones for softening the impact, but they also destroyed the front end of my car. I’m assuming, though the apprasier still hasn’t been to see the car, that my insurance will report the car as totaled (5 years old, 60K+ miles). Of course, I was 6 months away from paying it of completely and then I planned to drive it into the ground. Instead, I drove it into a Lexus.
The worst part of all of this, for me, is the fact that just a few weeks ago, I spent $1200 on this car getting oxygen sensors replaced, brakes replaced and other various maintenance. A couple of months back, I spent nearly $400 getting new tires mounted. So not only am I out a car, I’m $1600 further into debt with nothing to show for it except too much radiator grill. So angry.
And the cause of everyone slamming on their brakes? Some assclown in a Volvo decided to play the “slam on the brakes” game with a girl in a Neon who must have been too close for his comfort. She didn’t slow down in time and slammed into him, thus starting the chain reaction. Unfortunately, I’m the only car in the chain without ABS and I join the morons in the Volvo and Neon (the guy in the Lexus was very nice, took my information and left) waiting for the State Police and a tow. Amazingly, the tow truck was there in 10 minutes, even before the State Police (who had called them). I left the car on their lot for the weekend and, after renting a car for the week, drove up to the lot to get my crap out of the car. I snapped a couple more pictures of the front end as well. I guess the next car I get (5 more years of slavery) will have ABS.
