About 4:00 this afternoon an elderly lady ran a stoplight and totaled the Vic. She was going the speed limit - 45 mph - and hit it square on the front quarter panel, spinning me around into a truck crossing the intersection from the other direction. I was lucky, though. She was in a small SUV and hit me on the heavy end of the car, forward of the center of gravity. All it did was spin the front around, the sheer mass of the Vic and the resulting rotation absorbing a huge chunk of the impact energy (enough to deform the entire body of the car, creasing it aross the roofline beginning at the B-pillar). If she'd hit a foot or two farther back it would have pushed the car straight sideways, transferring most of the energy into the passenger compartment. All I have is a little soreness in my midsection from the sudden sideways shift and a bruise on my wrist where it hit the steering wheel.
The driver of the SUV was subject to a full frontal impact. She was injured pretty badly. She was dazed and only partially responsive when they loaded her into the ambulance. Hope she's okay. Being that her light had been red for at least 20 or 30 seconds, no skid marks, and by all accounts she hit me going the speed limit, they're suspecting she might have had some kind of underlying condition that cause her to blatantly disregard the light.
I'd just done a ton of preventive maintenance and 100k service stuff to the car. It was ready to rock and roll for another 100k. I wouldn't have any trouble finding another one, but it definitely won't be as well maintained as mine. That's going to suck greatly.
I suppose it's off to fight with her insurance company tomorrow. I have to get something arranged because we're supposed to go to Breckenridge on Wedsday... in my car.
Brad
