Car Crash

This is where the front of my car hit the guardrail on Hwy 280 yesterday. Someone was merging onto the freeway and clipped my rear bumper. My car slammed into the guardrail on the right and then slid across 4 lanes of traffic to stop against the center divider, blocking the left hand lane. I'm ok, just some bruises on my arm from the seatbelt and some ambivalent feelings about driving on the freeway. But our car is considered a total loss by our insurance company, which has not yet decided what we will get for it. The strange thing is, the damage above is about the worst of it. Yes, there are scratches and dents all along the passenger side where the car scraped the guardrail, a messed up rear hatchback door, and a crunched back fender where the SUV hit it. But you wouldn't think it was "totalled."

I am very very grateful to all the people who stopped to help me, especially the sheriffs' dept. guys who stopped right behind me about 15 seconds after I did and turned on all their flashing lights to warn oncoming drivers before I had even dialed 911. They may have saved my life. Then the tow druck driver who stopped about 30 seconds after that, also shielding my car, and tried to help me get my car started again, and the highway patrolman who arrived a few minutes later and took total control of the situation, got us off the freeway, and started the police report. Also the witnesses who waited by the side of the road to make sure I was ok and told the whole story to the officers. And even the driver of the SUV, who also stopped and waited, apologized to me, and cooperated fully with the CHP. I am so glad to be alive.