Amber Rear-Ends Me
Life is Going to be Complicated for a While
Yesterday was a really tough day at work. A customer kept hounding me for new analysis results, but after lengthy discussions with him, it became clear that he did not even know what he wanted. Nor did he understand the basic functioning of the mechanism he wanted analyzed. It made for a long, exhausting day.
In Michigan, the roads are always being “repaired”. That means that they are shut down for long periods of time. Right now, I-696 East is shut down for the start of a 2-year project. That means that much of the detoured traffic got shunted onto my route home from work. Eight Mile Road was very slow, with traffic much thicker than normal.
But I was almost home. I think 3.3 miles from our house. I had just come to a stop at a red light, behind several other cars. Suddenly, in my review mirror, a bright yellow object loomed closer and closer. I had time to tense up my body before impact. I think that was a mistake. I got shoved about 12 to 15 feet forward, but thankfully went a bit sideways into the center turn lane and avoided impact with the car in front of me.
My first thought was, “Wow. This really happened. I guess this is going to be my life for a while.” As I sat stunned in my car, halfway blocking the northbound traffic, I noticed the driver of the other car approaching my car window.
“I’m so, so sorry! This is a new car, and I haven’t had time to get the brakes fixed! I’m so, so sorry! I have full insurance. This will all be covered.”
“I’m going to have to call the police, though,” I told her.
“Of course, of course.”
The speaker immediately struck me as a woman; I’m not sure why. Probably the register of the voice, and her diminutive size. I told her that I was going to pull forward into the center lane to let traffic by, and she pulled her car over to the shoulder. This way traffic was able to thread the eye of the needle, passing between our brightly colored Fords.
When the police were slightly slow to arrive, I half thought she was going to drive off, and I had my phone camera at the ready to capture her license plate if she did. When traffic cleared, I went around the back of my car to assess the damage. It wasn’t as bad as I thought, but it will still be expensive to repair, because the right rear quarter panel and was buckled.
Because of this damage, which I didn’t see at first, I’m afraid that the insurance company is going to declare the car a total loss. Pulling the quarter panel straight might be a tricky proposition. And I think the exhaust was hit, also.
I looked over at the other driver. Short hair, tattoos. I realized that I had probably misgendered him. I know, I know, women can have short hair and tattoos. But there was something undefinably masculine. He spoke nervously to me through his car window, apologizing repeatedly, and hammering home the point about how his brakes had failed. This made me guess that he had actually been looking at his cell phone just before the impact.
He apologized so many times, that I finally said, “You are forgiven.” I’m not sure how my insurance company would look upon that statement. Maybe it was weak to say, as if it meant, “I relieve you of all financial obligation associated with repairing my car.” But he just seemed so worried and distraught, I felt I had to say something.
When the police officer arrived, he had us both move our cars onto Fourth Street, where the other driver was issued a citation for failure to stop. After taking my information, the officer said I was free to go. I wondered if he would let the other driver keep driving his car, since the brakes were supposedly not working. But I never found that out.
I went home and started the claim process with my auto insurance company. Only then did I realize the mistakes I had made. I had neglected to exchange information with the other driver. I hadn’t even gotten his license plate number.
Even though the officer warned me that the accident report wouldn’t be online for 2 or 3 days, it was there bright and early this morning. I mean like 5 am! When I read the report the first thing that caught my eye was the driver’s name: Amber. So, I guess it was a woman driving the other car, as my first impression had indicated. The lady on the insurance claims line (her name sounded like “Sociana” when she stated it at the start of the call) asked me a ton of questions about the accident, and I had to confess that I didn’t have any information on the other driver. Though she didn’t ask, I realized this morning that I would not have even been able to tell her the sex of the other driver. I had viewed her both ways during the incident. And to be honest, I still can’t be sure. If he were a male-to-female transgender, he could have had his name changed to “Amber.”
Life is going to be complicated for me for a little while, until the car is repaired. But, then, it is going to be complicated for all of us, and for much longer than that.
On the bright side, I’ve given up using pronouns for Lent.