Never been in a wreck?.. Buy a new car...

I was in my 2nd ever real car accident yesterday. I've been driving since I was 16. That's 17 years of driving and other than a couple of very tiny fender benders (I backed into a black car at night and a concrete bumper thing in a parking lot) when I very first started driving I've never been in a real accident.

I've always driven slightly older model cars..until year before last. In September of 2007, I bought a 2007 Ford Taurus. Techincally used, but as far as I was concerned it may as well have been right off the show room floor. In November of 2007 I was in my very first ever real collision.

I was on my way home from work, it had been raining and the roads were still slick. A car two cars in front of me stopped in the middle of a busy street to let a car out from a side road and the truck directly in front of me plowed into it. When I tried to stop my breaks locked up and I slid into the back of the truck. My airbag deployed and my hood folded up like an accordian. Damages totalled lots of black and blue bruising for me and approximately $11,000 for the insurance company in repairs.

You'd have thought they'd just total it out, but if you'll recall I'd JUST bought the car two months earlier. My first new car and my first real wreck. It took them 7 weeks to repair everything and I had an enlightening experience with the Mobile public transit system.

Fast forward to yesterday.

I've made up a little re-enactment thanks to google maps and my amateur skill with Paint.

The beige Taurus is me. The blue Chevy Blazer is the other driver, although her truck was kind of faded maroon.

As you can see, I was making a left turn from the left lane - which is what you're supposed to do when there is no turning lane. Olga (the other driver) thought she'd take a short cut to the turning lane and instead of waiting for traffic to move up, use the median as a turning lane. Now it's been quite a few years since I took Driver's Ed, but I do seem to recall that double yellow lines mean DO NOT DRIVE HERE.

Here's the front of her truck -

You may notice the lack of any apparent damage what-so-ever.

Here's my car -

In case you're wondering about the passenger door being open... yea, that's how I had to get out of my car. The driver side door is no longer functioning.

So now I'm in a rental while I wait for the adjustors (hers and mine) to take statements, check out my car, estimate damages and decide fault. Though as far as I'm concerned it's pretty obvious who's responsible. Here's hoping they see things accordingly.

Oh yea - Other than a bump on my head where it bounced off the driver side window and a scratch on my neck from the seatbelt I'm injury free. :-D