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Mercedes Benz Accident

August 9th, 2009 @ 9:01 pm PDT

In which I am waylaid by errant rubber

Mercedes Benz Accident

I played a round of golf this afternoon at Porter Valley Country Club with Kelly and his dad and Rob. I shot a disheartening 117, although the round was not as bad as the scorecard makes it sound. I had a couple of great drives and was putting pretty well, but my short game seems to have gone on a vacation. I’m hoping it returns soon because — since I finally broke 100 last month — anything over 105 is heartbreaking. And then it was time to drive home.

Mercedes Benz AccidentDriving in Los Angeles is always an adventure. Right around five o’clock in the late afternoon, I was doing about 68 mph on the 405 South, just north of the 101, when the car in front of me suddenly and dramatically veered to the left. I hit the brakes in shock but couldn’t avoid the very large remnants of someone else’s blown-out tire which flew into my bumper. I heard the double whump as it went beneath me and got a sinking feeling that money would soon be flying out of my bank account.


I slowed to a crawl but it didn’t seem like there had been any damage. My tires weren’t shaking or flat or anything and the car was handling fine. I began to think I had dodged a bullet and the freeway gods were smiling on me. I drove the rest of the way home anxious that maybe I’d find some scratches on the bumper or something like that, but since there didn’t seem to be anything wrong I wasn’t very worried.

Driving in Los Angeles is always an adventure.

I stopped at The Bigg Chill on the corner of Olympic and Westwood to get some frozen yogurt for my wife who was at home with a sore throat. That’s when I saw the damage. My heart sank as I realized just how bad it was. The entire driver’s side of the bumper was shredded. The matte-black grill that surrounds the fog light was completely gone, and there was a steady drip-drop of liquid creating a pool near the tire. (I bent to look and saw that the windshield wiper fluid reservoir was cracked and dented and spilling the cleaner onto the ground.)

“This,” I thought, “really sucks.” I called State Farm and got connected to a an after-hours agent. He was not very comforting. For example:

Him: And what time did the accident occur?
Me: It was about twenty minutes ago.
Him: And what time was that?

So I took a bunch of pictures with my iPhone and sent an email to my agent, Cheryl Jacobson, who has always been tremendously helpful. I have no idea if this sort of thing is covered by insurance, but I guess we’ll see what they say.

Here are the wonderful photos of the damage:

  • the lovely car, in mint condition
  • overview of the damage
  • the shredded bumper (alternate views: 1, 2, 3)
  • the busted wiper-fluid reservoir (alternate view)
  • the missing grill (the passenger side for comparison: 1, 2)

More posts tagged:
accidents / auto / cars / driving / golf / highways / insurance / Los Angeles

More posts categorized:
Los Angeles My Life

More posts from:
August 2009 / 2009

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