I'm Unbreakable

To continue my series of bad nights, I have one that took place just over three years ago. It was almost midnight, and I needed to drop my girlfriend off at her place. For whatever reason, I decided to get on Westpark and take it all the way instead of getting on 59 North. Well, I get to the part where Westpark crosses under the Inner Loop and I'm only going about 35 mph (I wasn't in any big hurry). At the on ramp to 610 there's no lights of any kind, not even a traffic light. I guess that's why the chick in the bright red Acura CL thought that she didn't have to yield to oncoming traffic, as she swerved out in front of me to make a left turn. I braked as hard as I could, but I still hit her passenger door pretty hard. I got out of the car to talk to her, but then had to go back to the glove compartment to get pencil and paper - so that I could write down her insurance information. Unfortunately for me, she took that opportunity to speed off. I guess I should've just memorized her information.

My car is totalled at this point; the insurance company would tell me later that the car was now worth about $400. At first I decided that I would wait for the Harris County police to show up, so that I could file a report at the scene. Unfortunately, I waited about an hour and a half and no one showed up. Amazingly enough, during that time the Bellaire Police drove by me three times asking me if I needed help. Unfortunately the accident occurred outside of their jurisdiction, and they were not able to do anything for me. As I was having my car towed back home, I passed by a Stop&Go that had a couple police cars parked outside. I'm sure that doesn't reinforce the stereotype of fat, lazy cops eating doughnuts all the time. No, not at all.

At the risk of going off-topic, my parents actually had my g/f sleep in a separate bed. Who are you fooling, people? Anyways, the next morning my thumb was throbbing. It did not hurt, per se, but my parents dragged me to the emergency room anyways. My thumb was broken, which was strange to me considering the fact that I'd never broken a bone before. It turns out that at the time of impact, my hand had struck the steering wheel rather hard. The doctor set me up to see a specialist a week later, and made me wear a splint until then.

The orthopedist gave me a cast to wear for the next five weeks. That was more than enough time for my thumb to atrophy; sweet. Fortunately, it healed on its own and I did not have to have any kind of surgery. All in all I would say that I came out ahead, as my medical bills totalled to less than $1300 whereas my car had suffered exactly $3000 worth of damages. Take that, Japanese automotive industry!