Freaky

Well, something happened today as I was driving Clown home from the Doctor.

He has been having headaches and we took him in to get him checked out. She says to keep an eye on things and if they get worse or he vomits or anything, let her know immediately. She thinks it sounds like tension head aches from his neck and shoulders.

On the drive back, he was wanting to see if Cryptic was home from school yet. We drove past the school parking lot and saw Cryptic walking along in there, on his way home. Clown was very excited that we were going to get home before he did!!! Once you come out of the parking lot, you turn right and then the street curves left and goes down a hill. You pass a house and then next is our house, a bit farther down the hill.

We also saw two neighbour girls walking along on the sidewalk along the street. One was way down past our house, almost about to turn into the cul-de-sac where she lives. Another one was in between the house above us and our house.

Because of the how our driveway is, we need to kind of turn out to the left into the middle of the street a tiny bit before turning right into our driveway. You can't get at the correct angle to pull in unless you do that. We have lived here for six and a half years and never had an issue with this. If anyone is behind us, they wait for us to turn in. They have to, you can't pass on the right and there is no room to go past anyway. The back end of our vehicle is still mainly in the right hand lane of the street.

It only takes a few seconds so doesn't hinder the other vehicles very much at all. Today as I was about to turn in, I glanced to my right to see what the girl on the sidewalk was doing. I wanted to see if she had stopped or was going to continue walking and I would need to stop until she was past our driveway to turn in. You never know what these kids are going to do. Sometimes they run to get out of the way, sometimes they know enough to just stop. I was trying to see if she was far enough away that I had time to proceed and not wait for her.

As I looked to my right to check for her, I saw that she was standing there waiting for me to proceed. The car suddenly jerked and was stopped by something very forcefully. I yelled "WHAT THE HECK!?!?!!?" because it startled me and I was freaked. I look and am staring directly into the face of a young man in the driver's seat of a car. I still can't figure out where on earth he came from!?!???

It appears that he was trying to pass me on the right?? Ummm...that is illegal!!! Like sheesh, give me time to turn into my drive way for crying out loud!!! I still don't know where he came from (I didn't even see that anyone was behind me and I am constantly checking my rearview) or how he even took up the lane so that the right front bumper of our car could hit the left front of his car. Stud says because by that time I was at the angle to pull into the driveway, so his lane was clear of our car's back end.

He was totally freaked and kept on saying how sorry he was. I rolled down my passenger window so that I could talk to him. When I saw he was near tears, I calmed totally down and was trying to reassure him. I was just schocked, I still CANNOT figure out WHERE he came from!!!!! I asked if he was ok, he said yes and kept on mumbling something about what his Dad would do.


I said don't worry, I will call my husband. By this time, we are completely stopping traffic and the school buses were all backed up behind us. I got my cell phone and told Stud we were right out in front of the house and to please come out.

I know not to move vehicles in this type of situation. But the kid was freaking, I didn't want to sit and block traffic, everyone was fine physcially, so I backed up a bit so that he could move and pull into our other, lower driveway that is on the other side of the house, down the hill a bit more. I said my husband is coming out, we need to exchange info. So right when I backed away a bit, he sped up a lot and kept saying "Thank you" and went to drive away!?!?!? I kept saying "No no, you can't do that, just hang on!!!" Then his hub cap fell off and he was trying to get it and put it in the car and drive away right when Stud came out the front door.

Great timing! By then, we are untangled so I just pulled into the driveway like I had wanted to in the first place. I went in the house and had Stud deal with him. Clown said he recognized him from the cul-de-sac behind us where they play sometimes. I wondered where the girl went, because I knew she was a witness.

Long story short, his mother came and called her husband. They decided to call the police at least to file a report and figure out who was at fault. There is not that much damage to either car, but it WILL cost something and can add up fast.

The police come and say it is non-reportable because there is such minimal damage. The girl who saw it and her Dad come and he says she came home and was freaked out and didn't know what she should have done. He told her you always stay at the scene and explain what you saw.

So we are thinking about dealing with it between just our families if possible.

Well, now his mother called and said the girl told them that she thinks I am at fault?? LOL What does a 14 year old girl know about the rules of the road and traffic laws??? Anyone even hearing this and trying to picture it in their mind can tell that he was at fault for trying to pass on the right, you know?? For heaven's sake, I was trying to turn into my driveway, can you give me a few seconds?? I can't count the # of times people have turned into our driveway and there is no problem. If you are coming up behind and you see someone getting over a bit, hang back and see what they are going to do. Not to mention NEVER passing on the right. There are rules for a REASON.

I signal 99% of the time, but I don't think I did today. He claims the sun was in his eyes and he couldn't see me. I got thinking about that. Before we came around the corner up by the school, you knew someone was in front of you. How could they suddenly disappear once you turn to go down the hill?? Ya know?? And I know for a fact, whether I had signaled or not, it would have made no difference in this case. Then, at one point, he tried to tell his Mother that I was behind HIM. HUH???

I was going very slowly, but he must have sped up a bit or something for him to even be able to make it almost past me entirely as I was slowly turning into my driveway, yes???

When the girl was here, I was saying how I was looking at her to see what she was doing. She said, "I know people's vehicles and I knew you were going to turn in there, so I waited for you." So... if SHE knows neighbours vehicles, then why doesn't he?? Wouldn't he know where I was going to turn?? And even if he doesn't...it is just common sense to me, ya know??

Anyway, now Stud has a call in to a friend of his who is a police officer and we will see what he says. I definitely will accept responsibility if I am at fault, but I just can't imagine that I am?? SUCKS that we moved the vehicles, but even without them there, you can totally picture in your mind what happened.

Here is a photo of our driveway, with the white van. The van was there when I attempted to pull the car in to the right of it. You can see what I would need to do to get at a good angle to do so.

Whatever, bloody blogger won't post a photo right now. I will add that later on, perhaps.

Alright, Cryptic has given Stud and I the go ahead to have a date. I told him it was up to him, and if he didn't feel like babysitting the sibs, his Dad and I would stay home. He had expressed lately that he would like to get one of their old babysitters sometimes instead of us always relying on him. So I wondered if he was ok with doing it tonight and he said yes.

Off we go. I don't really feel like leaving the house, but I Stud seems to want to get out. So I hope my mood improves!!!

Have a great weekend everyone!!!