Yet Another New Experience
Since arriving in France over two years ago, I've had so many new experiences, some positive and some negative.
This morning on the way to work, I got rear-ended in traffic, so it was an experience on the negative side. A city bus pulled out in front of a line of cars, causing everyone to slam on their brakes. I braked so hard to avoid the car in front of me that my shoulder bag was airborne for a few seconds before slamming into the floorboard of my car. A half a second later, the car behind me slammed into me. Fortunately we weren't going that fast, so the whiplash wasn't too bad. I was mostly upset about the damage to my car, as we pulled over to the side.
The other driver was a young man, 22 years old, driving an old, ratty compact car. Right away I saw its hood smashed in. I was almost afraid to look at the back of my Rav 4. It's little over a year old! But, the back bumper was hanging half off, with the license plate badly mangled. Further scrutiny revealed damage to the fiberglass cover on the back-mounted spare tire.
You know that feeling you get when you've just been in a car accident: a shaky, nervous, adrenaline rush, mingled with fear? It's ten times worse when you're in another country with another language. I stared at my car thinking, what do I do now? Call the police? What's the number? I looked at the kid, who was visibly upset. I wondered if rear-ending someone in France would mean that it was his fault, as it would in the US? The look on his face indicated yes, it would be his insurance, not mine, that would be affected.
He had a carbon form in his glove compartment which we each filled out in our relevent sections. I felt rather stupid, having to ask him what the name for the bumper was in French, and some of the other words on the form that I didn't recognize. I read and reread everything carefully, half worried that he was going to cheat me somehow. He was so young and miserable, I felt somewhat safe. He looked like the only thing he could think of was how he was going to tell his parents, who carry his insurance.
I only had a few blocks to drive to work afterward, and I was glad to have their instant concern when I told my colleagues what happened (one of their first suggestions: Have you had your morning cup of coffee yet? You should because you still look pretty shaken!) They were more than happy to help me with the rest of the form which now gets sent in to the insurance company. They can deal with the other insurance company over how it gets fixed. Then, apparently, they will call me with their authorized mechanic in this area who will fix the damage and bill the insurance company directly. Of course, this means that over the next few days, I will undoubtedly have more new experiences! Hope they're better than this one was.
This morning on the way to work, I got rear-ended in traffic, so it was an experience on the negative side. A city bus pulled out in front of a line of cars, causing everyone to slam on their brakes. I braked so hard to avoid the car in front of me that my shoulder bag was airborne for a few seconds before slamming into the floorboard of my car. A half a second later, the car behind me slammed into me. Fortunately we weren't going that fast, so the whiplash wasn't too bad. I was mostly upset about the damage to my car, as we pulled over to the side.
The other driver was a young man, 22 years old, driving an old, ratty compact car. Right away I saw its hood smashed in. I was almost afraid to look at the back of my Rav 4. It's little over a year old! But, the back bumper was hanging half off, with the license plate badly mangled. Further scrutiny revealed damage to the fiberglass cover on the back-mounted spare tire.
You know that feeling you get when you've just been in a car accident: a shaky, nervous, adrenaline rush, mingled with fear? It's ten times worse when you're in another country with another language. I stared at my car thinking, what do I do now? Call the police? What's the number? I looked at the kid, who was visibly upset. I wondered if rear-ending someone in France would mean that it was his fault, as it would in the US? The look on his face indicated yes, it would be his insurance, not mine, that would be affected.
He had a carbon form in his glove compartment which we each filled out in our relevent sections. I felt rather stupid, having to ask him what the name for the bumper was in French, and some of the other words on the form that I didn't recognize. I read and reread everything carefully, half worried that he was going to cheat me somehow. He was so young and miserable, I felt somewhat safe. He looked like the only thing he could think of was how he was going to tell his parents, who carry his insurance.
I only had a few blocks to drive to work afterward, and I was glad to have their instant concern when I told my colleagues what happened (one of their first suggestions: Have you had your morning cup of coffee yet? You should because you still look pretty shaken!) They were more than happy to help me with the rest of the form which now gets sent in to the insurance company. They can deal with the other insurance company over how it gets fixed. Then, apparently, they will call me with their authorized mechanic in this area who will fix the damage and bill the insurance company directly. Of course, this means that over the next few days, I will undoubtedly have more new experiences! Hope they're better than this one was.