Bye Bye quarter panel.
Bye Bye quarter panel.
A Blazer's eye view of the crash
Headlight soup mix. Just add water, heat, and serve!
"Aaaaaghhhh! The colors!" showing how the plastic fender well rubbed my
tire when I turned or hit bumps. I trimmed the offending beastie later
with a tin snips.
Inner plastic liner damage. Just missed breaking the AC condensor and
piping.
Hood edge is scarred from the intruding quarter panel.
More hood edge damage.
Bodywork from above. Not how far the quarterpanel got curled under, being
stopped only by the hood.
So there I was, leaving work at 6:30 and heading south to meet my
Wife at Westgate. I figgered Mopac would still be a parking lot, so
stupidly I turned off on 360. 15 minutes later I am stopped dead still
in the left lane just south of Bee Caves Road before the next light. I
hear the dreaded sound of locked brakes: I look back in my mirrors to
see if I can dodge it, but its coming from over my right shoulder. I
look right to see a '86 K7 Blazer (Ok, I saw a set of lights, I found out
it was an '86 Blazer later) coming straight at me 90 degrees to the
normal direction of travel. The Blazer looks like it is about to miss me
and stop in time, but, nope, it changes direction and lands squarely
against my virgin driver's side quarter panel. Bang! I get knocked
over a couple feet and the Blazer rebounds.
I clearly remember seeing the truck rotating and coming towards
me, and thinking "go in front of me, please!", and then, "He'll stop just
in time!", and then, "Sigh, he's going to hit me." For someone who gets
unreasonably angry at tailgators and people who cut me off or generally
drive like asses, I was amazingly un-emotional on this one. Just
recently after nearly dying last week, I had commented to Mariam that I
worry about myself in an accident not because of the damage, but how
badly I might pummel the half-wit who causes it. This time, I was
hardly even excited. I never even said a cross word.
So, rather amazingly calmly, I check traffic, and get out. I walk
over to the Blazer and ask the driver if he is hurt. He is shaken up,
but unhurt. I take charge and tell him to move his vehicle off after I
get a couple of pictures with the disposable camera I keep in the car for
such things. Naturally the flash does not work, so I doubt anything
will come of that. He informs me that he struck another vehicle on the
way in, which explains the change in direction.
There is a Tahoe pulled off to the side of the road, so I ran over
and checked with him. Barely a scratch on the back of his quarter panel
and bumper on the very back passenger corner.
I direct traffic while the Blazer moves off to the side of the
road. I follow and park on the right shoulder.
This being Austin, naturally, not a single driver stops to help.
Quite a few felt it necessary to yell at me to get my car out of
the way.
The A4 is driveable, but the inner fender liner rubs against the
tire when the suspension is compressed, or turned left.
The Tahoe driver calls the Travis County Sheriff. They say since
no one is hurt, call insurance and have a nice day.
We three exchange contact information, trade insurance, and call
our respective spouses/mothers and insurance companies.
It turns out the driver of the Blazer had to brake hard and locked
up the rears, and tried to dodge a car that stopped suddenly in front of
him. I think he went wide right to avoid the car, but over corrected to
keep from going into the ditch, which is why he was coming across the
road 90 degrees to the normal traffic (in other words, normal to the
normal traffic, for you math types). I won't speculate too much because
it is very hard to see what happens in a flash at night when you are
stopped.
By 7:00 I am back on the road again. I do a U turn and head for
183 and home.
The A4 is crunched. Headlight, bumper cover, washer popup and
quarter panel are all history. The car tracks straight, and it does not appear that the
suspension was even touched. It will need a new quarter.
As long as I am at it, I will get a new bumper cover, not a A4
type, but something akin to the RS4 or S4 type, with deeper grilles on the
bottom. I may as well. Suggestions anyone?
Physically I notice I am tired and a bit sore. I was worried
that I might have a slight concussion, but it is just a headache from the
tension in my neck. In other words, I am fine, just a bit shook up and
sore. No Troy Aikman here. My brother is an EMT/Paramedic type and
checked me out.
Grrr.