What Are The Chances
I have been involved in four accidents and in only one of them was I driving my car. My worst accident, I have already chronicled, the day I had a fitting for my wedding dress. The others, well I was parked and not in the car at all!
When my car was fairly new, my mother asked me to take her to a favorite dress shop. We drove to Kew Gardens, which was about 15 minutes away from Kew Garden Hills where we lived. The street was a two way street with parking meters on both sides of the road. I thought, “my lucky day!” as the corner spot opened up as I approached the store. I just scooted right into the spot, fed the meter and Mom and I walked across the street to the shop. She had chosen a few things and went into the dressing room to try them on. Sitting in the front area of the store, reading a magazine, I hears a commotion of horns and the definite sound of cars hitting each other. I nonchalantly looked out the window, and to my horror a three car accident ended with all three cars hitting my parked car. I told my mom I was going to see what happened. The police came, everyone exchanged their information and the cops seemed to have a good idea of how it happened. My car, innocently sitting there, was drivable, but it looked like it been through a war. I called the insurance, gave them everything they needed and brought the car over to the body shop. The body shop was owned by childhood friends of my father. I knew it was in good hands. I have no idea about the laws then, or the process to settle such cases, but there was a court date, and all involved had to attend. The courthouse was an imposing building on Queens Blvd. It had a huge staircase to the entrance. Towards the top, a group of men had congregated. I walked past them and notice this one man with the largest handlebar mustache I had ever seen. He saw me looking at him, so I commented on “how great his mustache was!” He smiled, and went back to his conversation.
I was directed to the proper room, everyone was inattendance, and then the judge walked in. OH MY! It was mustache man. He proceeded and asked us who we were, and the car we were driving. When he asked me, I told him I was in the dress shop and my car was parked legally on the corner. He smiled at me, then proceeded to award me with more than necessary to pay for the body repairs. No one was really angry at me, they were still arguing who started the whole mess. The money came from their insurance companies, and I never saw them or the Judge again.
I think whether or not I had made the mustache comment wouldn’t have mattered, but then again, a little flattery goes a long way. My car looked good as new!
In subsequent accidents, I was in a supermarket parking lot at the corner spot. Someone backing out across from me, went too fast and too far. It was obvious as to what happened, but the person did not leave any information.
Next I was parked at my children’s elementary school. The school had a large curve that went to the front door. Parking was legal anyplace on the curve but not in front of the door, or at arrival and dismissal times. My car was well back, and it was about noon. This time I was hit by a UPS truck that didn’t navigate the curve too well. That one was recorded by a surveillance camera. Lastly, while parked in front of a friend’s house, some kids decided to play stick ball, or something like that in the street. Batter up! Wham, my car caught the foul ball. In this case, the damage was easy to fix, the indentation was simple pushed out by nothing other than the ball itself!
