Bad Car Karma?

In my driving life I have had some of the oddest accidents. Very few were my fault and when they were it was for mundane reasons. However, I have had the oddest things happen when others were busy hitting me.

For instance there was the time when a guy thought he'd get a jump on the light and turn left before the other lanes started up. Trouble is, he ran smack dab into me as I was innocently driving along the lane he couldn't see. That in itself isn't odd, but it was distinctly surreal to be sitting there, trying to figure out if I could open the door this guy had just smashed into when up pounded two men in flannel shirts, waving badges, and saying, "We're undercover cops. We saw the whole thing and will be your witness." So there's something I don't see every day ... or ever.

Or the time that I was driving up to a red light and a man waiting to exit the grocery store parking lot suddenly revved up his car and rammed right into the side of the van. Turns out that he had Alzheimer's and thought he was hitting the brakes. That was the wake-up call for his daughter, riding with him, that something more needed to be done about Dad's condition.

Then there's the time that I was driving by an intersection and a parked car on the other side of the street just burst into flames. I'm talking flames here. It was like something off a Hollywood set. And no one stopped or even seemed to notice. Ok, that wasn't an accident but you have to admit it was freaky.

These are just a few of my car chronicles and luckily I've always come out of it unhurt, even if the car has been totalled. For instance, the time the delivery truck doing 60 hit me, I know my guardian angel was on the case because the entire front of the car was at a distinct angle to the rest of the car ... but I had instinctively hit the brakes just in the nick of time to tear out her rear axle so she couldn't leave the scene ... oh, and to stop her from hitting me dead on.

I'll end with yesterday's story, when I was again innocently driving (I'm always innocent; that's my story and I'm sticking to it!) in the right hand lane toward an intersection, next to one of those gigantically long Mayflower moving vans. I always feel like an idiot because I am nervous about driving next to big trucks. I don't trust the drivers to see me in their mirrors. It's a good thing I was nervously eyeing this one since I was halfway up the length of the van. I noticed right away that my lane was getting narrower and narrower ... because the truck was moving over. Maybe he was just out of his lane for a moment? Nope. He was moving over now! I hit the horn and hit the gas. Caught between a high curb on one side and this immensely long truck on the other I started wondering about crushed vans (and people inside them). He came far enough over to hit my side mirror (good thing it snaps back) and then finally came to a halt. I pulled up even with the cab, opened my window and then we had a very inelegant exchange of screaming at each other. Because he seemed to think that this was my fault and I should have gotten out of the way by going faster (or something). Wrong. So we will see how Mayflower handles this as I pulled up enough to get his license plate before moving on.

I think when my Guardian Angel got assigned they made a point of making sure he was extra good at handling car situations. Thank heavens!