John Valdez’s Legal Blog

I had a little bit of bad luck today, and alot of good luck, too, all occuring when I was in an accident.  

The Accident.  I was driving to work this morning when I approached a large intersection at Springdale Street and Westminster Boulevard.  Driving on Westminster Boulevard I entered the intersection with a green light.  Because this is a busy intersection, there were many cars stopped and waiting to turn on Springdale Street to my left.  These cars blocked my view so that I did not see the White Truck barrelling along into the intersection, against a RED light until it was almost on top of me.  I tried to speed up my little Sentra at the last second. 

The bad luck.  I could not speed up enough to get out of the way.   Another two feet forward and the accident would not have happened.  Instead, the truck clipped me at the back of my car.  Now I have to deal with all of the insurance, body shop, and car rental issues. 

 The goood luck.  On the other hand, the truck was destined to hit my card about five feet more toward the front of my car before I sped up, which means the Toyota truck would have ploughed right into the driver’s door, where I was.  Since the truck was much bigger and taller than my little Sentra, I think I would have been spending the day in the hospital.  By the way, I was a little shaken by the whole affair, but not physically hurt.

It is funny how little things can change things so much.  The young girl who hit me, never saw me.  She told the police she was reaching down in her car and took her eyes off of the road before reaching the intersection.  She may have dropped something, or possibly was texting.  In any event, her mistake could have proved a major tragedy.  As for me, I realize that were it not for a split second of reaction time, my life might never have been the same.  Maybe I would not be helping immigrants in the future, and maybe my family would have been stuck with a crippled person.

 I think I will count this as a great day.