This past weekend we had some wintry weather in our area, and while we didn’t get snow, we did end up with a slushy mix that turned icy on the roads as the temperatures dropped. On Sunday, Denis decided to brave the roads and go out to run some errands. It was mid-morning, and our residential street didn’t look too bad, so he thought he’d go for it.
About 30 minutes later, I got a call. “I wrecked the car.”
“ARE YOU OKAY?”
“Yes, I’m fine. But I’ll need you to come here.”
Fortunately, he was less than 2 miles from home (his errands were all hyper-local), so I got there pretty quickly and the featured picture above is what I saw. The roads didn’t appear that bad at the time, but apparently as Denis was going down this secondary road, he hit some black ice and slid off the road into a utility pole, before bouncing back into the road. Fortunately, there were no other drivers around, so the accident was pretty much just him vs. pole. Another driver came along moments later and pulled over to make sure Denis was okay, before calling the police to have them come handle the wreck.
Denis suffered no injuries despite the airbags deploying, although he did have a mild abrasion on his arm from where the airbags came out of the steering wheel. The car, though?
Not so injury free, right? The EMS team came and left when Denis assured them he was fine, a fire truck came and departed when no need for their services became apparent, and the police came to work the accident and guide traffic. For an hour Denis and I sat huddled in my car while they investigated and noted everything. I called into our insurance company to submit the accident claim and get things moving on that end. The tow truck came and took away the vehicle to hold until they were told where to deliver it for a repair estimate. A rental car was reserved for us but not available for pickup until the following day since it was a Sunday and nothing was open.
Denis did not get a ticket since the only reason for the accident was black ice, and insurance is covering everything – even the repairs to the utility pole that Denis snapped in half. But insurance did say that although he didn’t get a ticket, our insurance will likely go up next time it renews (which happens to be January). And now we wait to find out what the collision shop determines about the vehicle repairs. I’m lamenting the *possible* loss of the Highlander, because it’s an AWESOME vehicle (and TBH, I had thought about taking it over when it was time to get rid of my ancient Hyundai and letting Denis go out and get a new vehicle for himself). We’re praying it can be repaired versus being totaled (the car is in a great condition with relatively low mileage, so we’re hoping that the damage is well below the 75% threshold in place in SC (i.e., if your car is worth $10K and has $7501 in repairs it’s considered a total loss, but if it has $7499 in repairs insurance may allow it to be repaired). Our insurance rep is out of the office through Monday, so we may not find out next week whether we’ll be getting that car back. So until then, we pray, pray, pray.
We were very fortunate that Denis was not seriously injured! So be careful on those roads in winter weather, folks! Especially on those secondary roads which may not get treated as well as main roads, and due to being less traveled have more buildup of slush and ice!
Stay safe, everyone!
