WFO
When in doubt, gas it!
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2007
- Location
- Santa Cruz Mountains
- Moto(s)
- '12 Ducati Multi, '10 KTM 690 Enduro R, '10 Husaberg FE570
- Name
- Gerhard
I was on my way home from work one Friday in August driving southbound on Highway 17 just past Camden Ave/San Tomas Expressway in a E-350 Ford van. I could see that the traffic was starting to back up in the usual spot by the percolation ponds and the pedestrian overcrossing. At this point there are three lanes of traffic. The two lanes on the right converge before the cloverleaf from 85 adds another lane. So, the left lane is backing up faster than the two right lanes that are about to converge. I move into the left lane to avoid the merging traffic in the two right lanes. I'm behind a lady driving a VW Golf. She has probably a good fifty yards of clear lane in front of her and I'm right on her tail because I have a feeling there's gonna be a dive bomber coming up on the right side. As we come up on the congested traffic in the right two lanes, sure enough some guy tries to dive bomb me. But there isn't enough room for him to squeeze in. I look over at him to my right, and give him the Oh, really - you gonna try that move? So he does, but I don't budge. (We're probably moving along at 10mph at this point.) He moves into my lane. I don't slow down. I take out his mirror, and then I can feel my front tire rubbing against his door. The look on his face is quite incredulous. The NASCAR tire donuts and dents on his door make me cringe. I'm kinda blown away as I didn't expect the damage to his car to be so extensive. At this point I'm wondering whether I just had a Y chromosome moment that I might regret. I figure If I don't pull over to exchange insurance info, I might get in trouble with a hit and run offense. Since he was quite agitated, I decided to call 911. I told the dispatcher what had happened and that I felt threatened. I told her I was willing to pull off of the freeway at the next exit which she said was a good idea. She said she would have CHP meet us.
So I get off the highway and pull into this trailer park entrance off of highway 9. I still have the 911 dispatcher on the phone. The guy pulls up next to me and says, "Why didn't you let me in? You didn't have to take out my mirror." I said, "Hey man, there clearly wasn't enough space for you; and the way I figure it, you crashed into me." He called me a liar. Then I showed him my phone and told him I had a CHP dispatcher on the line. Then he freaks out and does a three-point turn and starts to leave. The dispatcher tells me she can hear our conversation. I tell her I can get a picture of his license plate, and she encourages me to do so.
I then get out of my van to assess the damage. There's a dent about the size of a silver dollar on my front fender from where it hit this mirror, and some white paint (that will easily rub off) on it. The zip tie that I used to mickey-rig the plastic to the bumper is broken. Whoop-de-doo. I guess that's what happens when four tons runs into a ton and a half. I'm not too worried since the van is over twenty years old and has many other small dents and scrapes. It's just another battle scar.
I'd rather not deal with insurance and CHP reports, so I call the dispatcher back and ask her if I still need to wait around for the CHP to show up. She says yes. Damnit! All I really wanted to do was ram the guy and send him on his way. Now that the law is involved, I'm expecting this to snowball. The CHP shows up with two officers. I told them what happened. They seemed to find it somewhat amusing, but they're kinda playing devil's advocate. I give them the license number of the other car, and one of them goes back to the squad car. When he comes back, he asks me if I could positively identify the guy if shown a picture. I said I wasn't sure since I only got a few glimpses. He shows me a picture and the resemblance is uncanny. I asked him how he managed to produce that image so fast and he said he was good at his job. Then I told him, while the image looks like the guy, I couldn't be certain. Could I get a copy of the picture? Nope. They tell me that since the guy bolted, this is now a hit and run incident which will require further investigation. I told them that since the damage to my vehicle was minimal, I didn't really care. My biggest concern is that the guy may seek revenge if he finds out who I am and where I live. They tell me that he will get that information as part of the investigation unless I ask the CHP to redact the information once the police report is released which will be a minimum of eight days. They gave me a card with a QR code on it so I can check on the progress of their investigation.
It's funny - everyone I've talked to about this has shown approval of my actions. This reminds me of some of the fights I got into as a kid where I beat the crap out of someone (who may have deserved it) and then regretted it afterwards after seeing them ball their heads off. A motorcyclist who was splitting lanes even gave me a thumbs-up as he passed. I can't imagine what this guy's reaction was when he got home to see the damage to the rest of his car. I hope he isn't married.
I called my insurance lady, but it was too late in the day for her to answer. I said I didn't want to make a claim.
I read the police report. I think I'm in the clear. It says that the other guy violated VC 21658(A), a California traffic law that requires drivers on multi-lane roads to stay entirely within a single lane as nearly as practical and forbids changing lanes until it can be done with reasonable safety.
So I get off the highway and pull into this trailer park entrance off of highway 9. I still have the 911 dispatcher on the phone. The guy pulls up next to me and says, "Why didn't you let me in? You didn't have to take out my mirror." I said, "Hey man, there clearly wasn't enough space for you; and the way I figure it, you crashed into me." He called me a liar. Then I showed him my phone and told him I had a CHP dispatcher on the line. Then he freaks out and does a three-point turn and starts to leave. The dispatcher tells me she can hear our conversation. I tell her I can get a picture of his license plate, and she encourages me to do so.
I then get out of my van to assess the damage. There's a dent about the size of a silver dollar on my front fender from where it hit this mirror, and some white paint (that will easily rub off) on it. The zip tie that I used to mickey-rig the plastic to the bumper is broken. Whoop-de-doo. I guess that's what happens when four tons runs into a ton and a half. I'm not too worried since the van is over twenty years old and has many other small dents and scrapes. It's just another battle scar.
I'd rather not deal with insurance and CHP reports, so I call the dispatcher back and ask her if I still need to wait around for the CHP to show up. She says yes. Damnit! All I really wanted to do was ram the guy and send him on his way. Now that the law is involved, I'm expecting this to snowball. The CHP shows up with two officers. I told them what happened. They seemed to find it somewhat amusing, but they're kinda playing devil's advocate. I give them the license number of the other car, and one of them goes back to the squad car. When he comes back, he asks me if I could positively identify the guy if shown a picture. I said I wasn't sure since I only got a few glimpses. He shows me a picture and the resemblance is uncanny. I asked him how he managed to produce that image so fast and he said he was good at his job. Then I told him, while the image looks like the guy, I couldn't be certain. Could I get a copy of the picture? Nope. They tell me that since the guy bolted, this is now a hit and run incident which will require further investigation. I told them that since the damage to my vehicle was minimal, I didn't really care. My biggest concern is that the guy may seek revenge if he finds out who I am and where I live. They tell me that he will get that information as part of the investigation unless I ask the CHP to redact the information once the police report is released which will be a minimum of eight days. They gave me a card with a QR code on it so I can check on the progress of their investigation.
It's funny - everyone I've talked to about this has shown approval of my actions. This reminds me of some of the fights I got into as a kid where I beat the crap out of someone (who may have deserved it) and then regretted it afterwards after seeing them ball their heads off. A motorcyclist who was splitting lanes even gave me a thumbs-up as he passed. I can't imagine what this guy's reaction was when he got home to see the damage to the rest of his car. I hope he isn't married.
I called my insurance lady, but it was too late in the day for her to answer. I said I didn't want to make a claim.
I read the police report. I think I'm in the clear. It says that the other guy violated VC 21658(A), a California traffic law that requires drivers on multi-lane roads to stay entirely within a single lane as nearly as practical and forbids changing lanes until it can be done with reasonable safety.
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