Totalled

This isn't going to be pretty, but I thought I should put this up while I can still remember it. I'll start with the basics. I was involved in a very bad accident just last Thursday. I was on my way to work when the person behind me rear-ended me. That phrase really doesn't do it justice. I was stopped along with several other cars in front of me at a red light. The person behind me appearantly was not paying attention. I heard squealing tires, looked up in the rear-view mirror and saw a white streak coming toward me. And that's when it hit....hit with such force that the vehicle behind me went underneath my truck bed, torn away the spare tire, bent the rear bumper completely under the truck bed, and slammed the truck bed forward into the cab. This in turn cause the rear window to shatter into the back seat of my club cab (extended cab) truck. Thank goodness it was extended or I could have had glass showering down on me.

The force of the impact cause me to be pushed into the full-sized passenger van in front of me, causing their rear doors to be smashed in and also shattering their glass windows. My truck eventually popped the curb on the right and came to rest in the median against a tree...nearly knocking it over.

I would assume from this description you can guess that the instigating vehicle must have been travelling at a high-rate of speed? My estimates put his speed at 40mph on the low end. Now keep in mind, this is after he had been squealing his tires for a couple seconds...in other words, slowing down. I would estimate his actual speed to be closer to 45-50mph at the time he applied his brakes. The speed limit was only 35 mph through there....so you can guess I'm a little upset.

In any case, Justin is now a total loss. The insurance company isn't bothering to have it towed to a body shop. They are towing it directly to their salvage yard where it will get appraised and an offer will be made on it. I don't know what their offer will be, but I hope it will at least come close to what I still owe on the vehicle. If it doesn't, I'll be without a vehicle for a while. We'll just have to see what happens.