Um, excuse me sir, you ran a red light and destroyed the front of my car.

It was 5 pm and 2 of my coworkers were following me to check out a venue where we’re hosting a happy hour at the end of the month. I’m cruising down the Dallas North Tollway access road, listening to classical music at a reasonable level, approaching an intersection when, BAM!! I’m T-Boned by some A-hole who ran a red light. Within seconds my head hurt. My car was thrown into neutral and I was drifting through the intersection with my hands thrown in the air probably yelling something I shouldn’t have. The guy didn’t even try to avoid kissing my car. After slamming into me, he bounced off someone else, did a 360 and ended up backwards on the wrong side of the road with what was once a very nice drivable silver Lexus. Now he had many angry people after him and an un-drivable silver Lexus, as did I.

Had I been 1-2 seconds later he would have slammed into ME/my door. Thank God for timing.

The other victim had to leave for an important meeting but made sure to hold up a piece of his car before leaving the scene, “Look- a souvenir!!”
So, after the other victim left the scene, the cop shows up. She asked me where the wreck occurred and I pointed and she laughed and goes well the at-fault ended up in Addison (across the street). (OF COURSE…) She was like “Well, since my jurisdiction is Dallas, I’m not going over to talk to him.” THANK YOU FOR SERVING OUR CITY. How convenient is it that since the other guy involved left the scene early, she “couldn’t write a police report”. Bull honky!! At the time I didn’t really care. I just wanted to make sure we were doing everything correctly. I needed the at-fault’s insurance/info and I was good. Well, b/c of the situation/location of all the cars my coworker, who had graciously pulled over the help me, tended to this errand for me. I filled out a detailed accident report on his car insurance form and all he gave me was his name, number, and insurance type. Awesome, thanks dude! Your car is so far away I can’t see the license plate and I can’t desert my car in this traffic with CRAZY Dallas-ites who drive like they’re in LA!

The cop grabbed the front of my car and since it didn’t fall off she suggested I drive home ( a few blocks away) and get a tow-truck to pick my car up there. As I’m driving away (on the phone with MY car insurance people to ask what the heck to do) a loud scraping/dragging noise drowns out our conversation. “Uh, Ma’am.. is everything ok?… I hear a loud noise… should we finish filing this claim later?” Me: “Yes, this is NOT a good time…” THANK YOU AGAIN Ms. Police Lady for your great advice. I was now driving ON and dragging my bumper down the Dallas Tollway access road. I pulled off into this construction site/gravel parking lot/field. Awesome. At this point I called my boyfriend nearly in tears to see if he could pick me up and he was pulling into the area where I was located. Woohoo!! My knight in shining armor arrived! He called a wrecker and my car dealership and arranged everything. All I had to do was sit in his warm truck with his puppy and wait. The wrecker showed up shortly (they must sit around in popular “wreck” areas b/c they made great timing!) so I handed over my keys and headed home 2 hours later than originally intended.

Needless to say it’s been HELL trying to get in touch with the red light runner, as well as gather ANY other info on him. Because there was no police report, I can’t get his info from the police. Because he hasn’t filed a claim with USAA yet (oh AND b.c their system has conveniently been down all day), I’m not in their system and I can’t get my car taken car of or get a rental car. It’s quite frustrating to feel like you’re just sitting in a holding cell. Helpless is the only word I can think of.

(2 hours later…)

Geico (my insurance co) calls me to get a recorded statement from me b/c the at-fault red light runner is disputing the facts of the wreck. He’s claiming that I ran a red light and he went through a yellow light. THERE’S NO SCIENTIFIC WAY the lights could be programmed that way… especially if I have more than 1 witness to prove it. UGhhh this is such crap. I DO NOT like insurance companies. Never have . NEVER will. They’re dishonest and screw you over! I’m going to be dealing with this crap for the next 2 years and end up suing him. Get excited. This is what my step-dad does for a living. Get ready red light runner!! You’ve inconvenienced me with a damaged car, brain and neck pain… I can leave you with much worse. Litigation fees.