a fender bender

On our way to school just barely past our house on our street, T-rav notices a large sedan sitting at a stop sign on the left, waiting to cross the street. I am just driving along, not speeding, not poking, just going, paying attention to my surroundings, but also trying to see through our very dirty windshield while chatting with T-rav. I suddenly hear him saying "Tia, tia, TIA" and I finally look over to see that the car sitting at the stop sign is no longer sitting. She's attempting to cross the street, but obviously hasn't looked to see if anyone is coming. I simultaneously slam on the brakes, curse, and honk, hoping that she will see me and stop.

She doesn't.

Luckily, we both slow down enough that when I finally ram into her, it's not very hard. I'm instantly enraged. I try to zip after the moron I just hit, but find that I can't. In the split second of panic during impact, I took my foot off the clutch and killed the car. I start up the engine, squeal away, and park just beyond the red sedan. I'm ready to get out and rage at the idiot who doesn't know how to drive when I see that it's the nicest little old lady from our ward. I can't yell at her. I feel bad because I know she's probably a lot more shaken than I am. I also realize that I kind of enjoyed the sensation of ramming into another car (Trav later suggests that I should become a derby car driver).

I pull the key out of the ignition and leap out of the car with no thought of anyone's physical well-being. Who cares if someone is injured- what about my car! How much is this going to cost me! I later wonder what it says about my personality that my first thought in a crisis is always of the expense of the repair and never my health. The little frau I hit asks if we're ok while admitting that it was her fault; she was thinking about how she was going to get across the busy intersection a few streets ahead rather than the one she was driving on. She didn't look for cars coming the other way.

We're lucky- our front bumper is scraped up and slightly cracked, but no serious damage done. Her insurance should easily cover it. Our little frau is less lucky- I hit her right in the wheel, leaving it bent at a strange angle. We're not sure she should drive on it, but she insists it's ok. I think she's quite shaken but doesn't want to admit it. As we chat I start feeling guilty- I should have driven slower (slower than 25?), I should have looked more carefully (but she crossed without looking), and worst of all, the thought that T-rav would have slowed down in time if he had been driving!

We exchange numbers, and she reminds us where she lives so we can come over and sort things out later. I wish to myself that I had hit a nasty punk 19 year old I could have yelled at. Who can be mad at grandma? We hop back in our cars and go about our day. A few blocks from school, I remind T-rav that he better not even think for 1 second that he could have avoided our accident. It has nothing to do with me being a good or bad driver. I admit that I'm overly concerned about being considered a good driver and hope this doesn't tarnish my good record, for today was my very first accident.