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Mom of five lovely daughters, wife of one dashing man. Born in Utah, grew up in Oregon, live in Georgia.

Sunday, December 07, 2008

Driven to distraction

I'm generally a very good driver. I've never had any tickets, and besides a couple of fender benders when I was 16 (and was NOT a good driver) I have a spotless record. But if I were to be judged by last week alone I don't know if they'd give me a license. On Thursday I was driving to drop off a birthday gift to one of my friends and ran over a curb. At first I didn't think I'd done any damage, but that evening my tire BLEW UP! Thankfully it was while the car was sitting in my garage and not while we were driving on the freeway. It sounded like a bomb went off in our basement. At first we were scared silly, but when I remembered my off-roading experience I knew it was the tire. So, on Saturday we traveled down to Wal-Mart to get a new tire. The parking lot was crazy busy, so I tried to bypass some of the traffic by cutting through the parking lot. But... I misjudged the angle of the parking spots and bumped into another car. UGH! I was only going about 4 1/2 mph, so the damage was not as bad as it could have been, but it was still enough to send one of the Wal-Mart tire & lube guys into a frenzy of cursing when he came to assess the damage. (He had parked the car and felt responsible.) My response was much more controlled.... tears. With Christmas expenses and a slow economy the last thing I want to pay for is a new tire or an insurance deductable. But, as Elder Wirthlin said: "Come What May, and Love It." Life will go on, and I'm going to be a much more careful driver in the future.

And it would make me feel a lot better if you would share some of your driving mishaps. It's always nice to know you're not the only one that makes silly mistakes. Thanks. :)

12 comments:

Topsy said...

Well, you may remember the time I drove my green truck off the 7 foot cliff edge at Stadium Terrace. I came around that narrow corner of the building and we hit ice, Ang and I just slow motion plunged off the slide and stopped one inch before hitting the tree. Thankfully there was no damage.

Last year, I had my first accident that caused damage though. I was driving in the Fred Meyer parking lot. The sun from the roof blinded me and I was turning at the T intersection just in front of the building. The area beyond the T was a no parking zone but some guy in an extended truck chose to park there and I swiped his bumper as the sun blasted my eyes. I waited around with two kids in the car forever to apologize for the 2 inch dent in his bumper. I got screamed at and cussed at in return.

And no you are NOT the only one.

Unknown said...

The night before Thanksgiving a year ago I was on my way home from my Holiday job at Old Navy. It was late, I was tired, it was very dark, raining, head light was out and wipers weren't working like they should. I was on the phone and hit the curb in the right hand lane of exit 14 trying to get on 400N. Really I thought I was in the right lane and that it went all the way down but, it didn't and there was no reflectors on this big hunk of concrete that ended the lane. I was right in front of Chilli's with 2 blown out tires and bent rims in the rain. It cost more to fix the car than I probably made the whole season of working for some Christmas money. I was so mad at myself but, I had to be grateful that I was safe and I learned never to drive Scott's car in the rain on the phone with a headlight out! LOL

Sally F said...

I'll share my cousin Spencer's because it's recent and kinda funny:

A couple months ago he looked back to see if he brought something in the back seat, and rear-ended the guy in front of him who had stopped. Worse, his current insurance card was accidentally in the other car, so he got a big fine on top of the ticket.

That night his wife, Sara, brought all the insurance cards in from both cars to sort them out and put them on the counter to put in the correct cars. Only she forgot, and the very next day she was pulled over for speeding, and didn't have her insurance card! After another hefty fine on top of the ticket, 2 court dates, and 2 traffic school sessions, they're finally back to normal!

Sorry for your accidents, Jessi. Sounds like you've got some sleep deprivation going on!

Dani said...

My husband left the gas station with the hose still connected to our car! The nozzle part popped right off! Apprently this happens more often than not! It attaches right back to the hose, I guess! Thank goodness no damage was done.

Once I parked at a meter and after opening the door and looking out, I realized that I wasn't close enough. So I released the emergency brake and thought I'd just coast back a few feet to get closer to the meter. Well, I had left the car door open while I was doing this and the door hit the meter! Woops! It left a nice little dent :)

So don't feel bad! These silly little accidents happen to us all!

acte gratuit said...

Don't worry. This will make you feel better after the first five words:
I was racing Doug home one night, (see what I mean? I start out stupid and it just gets worse), and I decided I'd try a new road so I could beat him. (We'd been driving home on the freeway together and only split up when approaching our neighborhood.) Anyway, I took a different route into the neighborhood and as I rounded a corner on a dark and narrow little road, I totally side-swiped an unmarked telephone pole. The scrape sounded like and explosion and scared the crap out of me because I didn't have any idea what I'd hit. When I got home, I had to crawl out the opposite side of the car because I'd crushed my door, and the rear door into submission. (As well as removing the rear view mirror.

The worst part? I lost the race.

Emma said...

I've done stupid things while driving, but luckily nothing that has left damage. I bump into curbs all the time. Especially when trying to parallel park the minivan at David's school.

MiandMiksmom said...

My MOST recent??? I CONTINUALLY hit the pole in the garage that protects the water heater with our BRAND NEW car...over and over again. I have a dent and scratched paint. Since we moved, I park on the other side AWAY from the water heater!!!

Michelle Pyne said...

I went to get my hair cut at a salon for the first time. I HATED the way the beautician cut it and was upset. I was parked by a large cement pillar, and when I backed out I turned my wheel immediately and scrunched into the pillar. That made me feel so much better!

Kjirsten said...

One fall weekend I had some special visitors (namely, you and Dave) that I wanted to impress with some of my fresh picked apples dipped in warm caramel. But when you arrived, I realized I had forgotten to buy the caramels. So I ran out to my car, threw it in reverse, and promptly broadsided your car with my back bumper. I felt awful Luckily for me, you were nicer about it than the mechanic was to you. I repeated this same fiasco just a few years ago when I broadsided my cleaning lady's car while she was working on my bathrooms. That was not a great day, either.

Rachel said...

Have you seen the side of my car? Shortly after we got the car, I badly scraped the side of it. I was having a hard time getting used to how wide the Pacifica was (especially coming from a Honda Civic). I was pulling through a parking space, but the was a light pole on the passenger side with a wide cement base that I couldn't seen. I was pregnant with Gavin and had worked the night before, so I blamed it on a non-functioning brain.

Kimberlie said...

I was a good driver until I was toting around kids.
I ran into the back of people's car twice while at a red light. They were within a year of eachother and the insurance guy and the collision repair both remembered me and said, you did it again? It was really embarassing. One was because I turned around to look see what was wrong with Elicia because she was screaming like her arm was cut off. The other time my mind was a million other things. Since then I've been a lot more careful to not let the busy stuff in my life distract me while I'm in the driving.

Melissa said...

Oh no, Jessi! I'm sorry about the bad timing... I've heard a tire explode before-- scary scary sound! I am so glad you weren't driving when it popped. Hang in there!