Parking Lot Adventure

During the years that I used to commute 120 miles a day, I would frequently and consistently come across, or even witness, a variety of traffic accidents. This dubious tendency became well-known amongst my fellow ERT members, earning me the nickname of Sh*t Magnet. Although I no longer spend 3+ hours a day on the road, this propensity has continued.

It manifested itself on Tuesday night, when I was driving around the parking lot of the building that I had just finished my karate class in. I was heading towards the exit when I saw two smashed-up cars, their previous occupants milling around in the parking lot traffic. As I always do, I stopped to help.

Luckily, there were no injuries. I called the incident in, put down flares, and spoke with the two drivers.

Of course they both stated that the other was driving too fast. "No kidding," I thought to myself. The car that was hit had a very prominent bash on the side of it from the T-bone impact. The car that did the hitting was leaking fluid and vapor, and obviously undriveable.

This was in a parking lot.

I guess these guys were in a hurry. The collision slowed them down, that's for sure.

The owner of the broadsided vehicle mentioned to me that he was considering driving the car home. After looking at the damage more closely, I didn't think this was such a good idea.

The impact was directly beside the wheel well. The wheel itself was on an angle to the rest of the car. The wheel well was damaged and distorted, with jagged metal pieces pointing towards the tire. I hoped this car was paid for. It looked like a write-off.

"You know what ? I don't think this is safe to drive. I'd call a tow truck if I were you."

"Oh. Ok."