My 1997 Saturn SL2 is no more.

On my way to school just before Pesach, I ran a red light and had an accident. I can’t explain exactly how it happened, but–for a brief moment–I was so distracted that I didn’t see a traffic light turn red. When I did see that it was red, I hit the brakes but had not reacted in time to prevent my car from screeching into the intersection.

I hit a minivan coming through the intersection from my left to my right, impacting into its rear passenger-side quarter-panel. Our two cars rotated clockwise (to my right) 90 degrees and wound up in the median of the steet I had been crossing, as if I had made a right-hand turn.

Needless to say, this was not good news for my car. Both of my airbags deployed upon impact, though, since I had been slowing down (with my brakes locked) when I hit the minivan, I did not bounce into the airbags themselves. I called the police on my cell phone, then hopped out to make sure the woman in the minivan was OK. I then made sure that *I* was allright, then called Judi, to whom I had been speaking when the accident occured. My next call was to the auto-insurance company, who handled the whole thing wonderfully for me.

I am insured by AAA (the auto-club people), so they sent a tow-truck, recommended a collision repair shop and arranged for a rental car from the Enterprise office across the street from the place I took the car. The accident happened at about 7:40 AM and found myself back at school well in advance of my first class.

Since the accident happened just before Pesach, I didn’t get a chance to look for a new car (since AAA totalled my Saturn) until this week and, in my next post, I’ll tell you all about that.

Oh… and I’m fine. Thanks for worrying. 🙂