Fun with traffic

Today I was running a brief errand, very near our house. I was on Ellenwood, a two-lane road that connects two major streets; this road runs through our neighborhood.

I drove down Ellenwood toward Arlington. When I neared the point where Ellenwood ends at Arlington, there was a car some few car-lengths in front of me, nearing the stop sign where Ellenwood and Arlington meet. The car, let's say a Hyundai, stopped at the stop sign. I stopped to wait for a few pedestrians to cross the street; they crossed between the back of the Hyundai (which was still at the stop sign) and the front of my car. They were not in a crosswalk, by the way; this is basically a residential neighborhood, with a lot of foot traffic, and no one pays attention to where the crosswalks are.

Once the pedestrians had reached the other side of the street, I pulled up behind the Hyundai, which was still there. I wasn't a car-length away from it, but I wasn't right behind it, either. I was a good distance from the Hyundai.

There was traffic on Arlington, so I waited for the Hyundai to turn right. Suddenly, the Hyundai just . . . backed into me. And I don't mean a little "tap." They didn't accelerate or anything, but they hit my car pretty hard.

And then drove off down Arlington.

Their flight was not the fastest one, though, so I was able to memorize their license plate as they pulled out onto Arlington. I couldn't pull out right behind them, because another group of cars came, but as soon as I could, I turned right onto Arlington as well. I called 911 as I drove down to the next light and turned onto another residential street so that I could gather my wits and wait for the police to arrive.

Well, imagine my surprise when I saw the Hyundai there; they were sitting on the street I'd just turned onto, and they were preparing to get back out onto Arlington. But they couldn't go anywhere, because the traffic was so backed up at the light. So I jumped out of the car and started writing down their plate information.

The passenger, a young man probably in his early 20s, got out then, and came over to me. I doubt he would have gotten out of the car had I not gotten out and started writing things down.

He asked if I had any damage to my car; I did, and I showed it to him. The passenger gave me a piece of paper with a name and a phone number; the name on the paper ("Joe Brown") was his brother, he said; the phone number was Joe's, and Joe owned the car.

By this time, the driver, an older man, was out of the car. I got the older man's name ("Bob Smith") off of his driver's license. I wrote down "driver" next to it. I asked them for their insurance; they said they didn't have it with them, and reiterated that the car was Joe's. They asked if I'd called my insurance company; I said no. Before I could tell them that I'd called the police, they said that they had to go, they were going to a wedding . . . but that had to be the most casual wedding I've seen in a long, long time. They rushed off, reiterating that this was Joe's car, and that was Joe's phone number, I should get ahold of him. Fine, whatever. I had Bob's (the driver's) name, I had the owner's name and telephone number, I had the license plate info. I was not happy, but I couldn't imagine physically subduing these guys.

I'd called Curtis, and he came to be with me, as our house is about 2 minutes away.

Then the police got there. And things got interesting.

They got the information I'd been given, they got my info, and after filling out some paperwork, they asked me, "Now, who exactly was the driver?"

"Bob Smith."

"And did the passenger give you his name?"

"No."

"And who did they tell you the owner of the car was?"

"Joe Brown."

"Actually, no. Bob Smith is the owner."

"Wait, what?"

"The driver is the owner. When we did a search, we learned that Bob Smith is the owner. We're going to look further into who this Joe Brown is supposed to be."

Well, that's a hell of a thing.

Further bulletins as events warrant. I have to call my insurance agent now. Mostly I just don't want this to turn into another version of an accident that happened in 2001. Which will be in another installation . . .