I'm a bit pissed off today, to be honest. Last night I had my first proper car crash. Don't worry, no hospital visiting will be required. I was back at work today. I haven't even put in a claim for whiplash. The car's not that mangled either. I'm just annoyed that it happened and that I've had to make my first ever car insurance claim for structural damage, after nearly 23 years with no driving claims, just the odd smashed window and a stolen windscreen. (Yes, a stolen windscreen.)

This comes just four months after my previously unblemished licence was graffittied by some Sussex copper, adding my first ever points for my first ever speeding offence, committed on Brighton's main drag. What's particularly galling is that I was blissfully unaware of this speeding incident until the fine arrived in the post, and my moment of madness (41mph, apparently) occurred just three minutes from the end of a journey from Brum to Brighton which had taken over four hours. Three minutes!

I'm annoyed about last night's collision because it was caused by someone else's moment of stupidity, and although you might expect me to say this, I've thought about it in detail and it wasn't my fault at all. All I have to do now is get the insurance companies to agree this too, or it will cost me the £200 excess to have the repairs done, plus losing two years on my no claims discount if they decide I was to blame after all. Guess who decided to stop protecting their NCD last year, in order to trim my insurance costs a bit, as my car premium is so bloody expensive? Yep. But when you live in a high premium postcode area and you have to leave your car on the street, you get so ripped off that I had to do something to keep it down.

What happened was this. I was driving home from work. At about 19:15 I was on a fairly wide A road, when the car in front of me turned left into a smaller residential road. No problem so far, but as the car was turning left, I moved nearer to the centre line ready to pass the car, to give it more room. However, as I approached the turning car, a man decided to pull out of the same side road and attempt to turn right. The driver can't possibly have known if there were any cars behind the car that was turning in beside him, but he decided to pull out anyway and attempt to cross the carriageway that I was on and turn right. By the time I saw him pull out in front of me from behind the turning car, it was too late. It all seemed to happen in slow motion from this point. I had to make a split second decision how to steer a path between the end of the car I was passing and the car that was crossing my path and turning towards me into the neighbouring lane. I didn't slam on the brakes, because the road was wet. Luckily, I managed to pump the brakes quite sensibly and come to a halt in the middle of the road, without locking the steering, but not before I had grazed along the driver's side door of the other car, smashing my sidelight casing, denting two panels on my car and pushing in his driver's side door.

He kept on going, but turned into the next side road and stopped. I drove into the side road that he had come from and we swapped details. I was remarkably calm and polite, because I wanted his details and I had immediately come to the conclusion that there was no point ranting and raving at him. I would let the insurance companies sort it out. I didn't apologise and nor did he. He was friendly enough, for someone who had just caused a crash, and just before he left he said, "it's just one of those things". If I said anything, it was just an "Mmm", because I was thinking, 'Yes, it's just one of those things if you're a reckless idiot who pulls out onto main roads into oncoming traffic, on a wet road, when your view is obstructed. Twat.'

I drove home, and although I thought I was fine, I felt very, very tired and was in bed by 22:00. I think there had been an adrenalin rush, which then wore off very quickly. I made my claim on the phone this morning. I don't even have to fill in a form, although it would be much easier to draw a diagram of the accident than it was to describe it verbally. (They may need one later, if the insurance companies get into a dispute, so I wasted valuable minutes at work today by drawing one while it's still fresh in my mind.) The car's being collected on Tuesday to be repaired, and I'll get a courtesy car while it's done. (See, the insurance premium was worth it after all.) Luckily, it's still driveable, and even the sidelight still works, despite the casing being gone. Whether or not it's legal has been the subject of much (inconclusive) debate today with colleagues. I borrowed a good camera phone and took four photos, which I e-mailed to myself to keep as evidence. And that's that.

Oh, the name of the residential road from which the other car appeared? Chance Drive. You have to laugh, don't you?

Labels: car, crash, insurance

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