A Sardine Desert, Crotch to ankle
As the afternoon wore on yesterday the wound in the center of my forehead was more and more painful as the numbing wore off. By the time I left the office it felt like I was smacked with a ball peen hammer so I was not in a great mood. I hopped in my Model Y and started backing up. I was parked in the spot right along the sidewalk so as I started backing up I looked left but then looked right to make sure there were no pedestrians or cyclists on the sidewalk, a normal hazard. Well in a split second I hear a crunch…..
As I was checking right a woman in a minivan had slid in behind me. I was angry both at myself for not double checking left and this woman for not noticing my car was moving. When I got out she said she was stopped and I hit her. I told her the rubber skid mark on my rear bumper would indicate that wasn’t true. The rear camera video I viewed later revealed the same thing.
In a nutshell when I started moving backwards she was 10-20 feet away from me. She did not notice I was moving at all, rolling behind me until impact was made. When I saw my formerly pristine car with rubber streaks and buckles in the rear trunk lid it made me sick to my stomach. We exchanged info although in a situation like this I believe it is no fault and each insurance company would pay for the damage to it’s insured vehicle. Her van had other pre-existing scrapes on it so I would suspect she won’t even fix her damage.
I couldn’t believe this just happened. I took pictures of her vehicle, my car, her insurance card and we exchanged names/phone numbers even though as I said, I don’t think it will be needed in this scenario. On my drive home I had a mental dark cloud that I could not shake. It seemed appropriate that we had a summer style rain event last night to boot.
So despite knowing that ultimately it’s always the drivers responsibility to make sure their car does not impact others I also found myself annoyed with Tesla itself and it’s lack of a basic safety feature that has been in many automobiles for many years, rear cross traffic alert. My Tacoma has this and it would have totally avoided the scenario. Basically as soon as the vehicle is put in reverse it checks for any movement to the right and left of it whether it is a pedestrian, cyclist or another vehicle. If motion is detected it sounds an alarm to get your attention. It has saved me numerous times over the years while backing up when something suddenly appears when your view is obstructed.
The fact that the Tesla, one of the most technologically advanced vehicles on the planet does not do this is stupid, really stupid. I was annoyed enough about it that I did a short video when I got home talking about the incident and the lunacy that no Tesla’s include this feature that is almost as common as power windows in cars today. Man, I was pissed, at myself, at the car, at the other driver, and pretty much the world in general.
Today I had my last cardiac test, a vein test. I was a little surprised when I entered the testing room and the guy said to remove my pants. The test wasn’t very enjoyable. I stood on a platform for 20 minutes while the guy ran an ultrasound wand down each leg from my crotch to my ankle. I quickly found myself flush in the face and sweating, a common involuntary reaction I have with many medical tests. What really got to me was when I would hear the audio that was being recorded of the veins.
When the tech got to my left leg he was a bit confused. I told him that over 20 years ago I had a varicose vein removed from the leg. That cleared things up for him because he was not seeing a vein he was expecting to find. I was relieved when the test was done. All that remains on the cardiac side of my current health reality is to talk to the doctor about what all these tests reveal. I am hoping it’s nothing. I am tired of eating sardine sandwich situations.