Today sucked balls. Shitty day at the office. The usual. I was supposed to stop at Autozone on my way home to pick up a replacement axle for the Galant to be installed tomorrow night in preparation for rally school this weekend in California. Of course, I got all the way home and out of the car before I realized I forgot it, so back into the car I went, off to Autozone to pick up my axle.

I get less than two miles down the road before some kid decides he's gonna blindly fire a left turn off across my lane despite not being able to see me around the truck directly across from him wanting to turn left as well. It's been raining all fucking day. Phoenix drivers are worse in the rain than Minneapolis drivers in the snow.

I see him.
He sees me.
We both go "Oh shit."
He jams on the brakes to stop.
I see his car nose dive.
I go for the outside lane to avoid him.
He slides, decides he has to go for it, and guns it. He pulls right the fuck into my path.

I was trying my damndest to threshold brake while steering to avoid him, but in the end, nearly 4000lbs of Mitsubishi Galant t-bones his Kia Sephia sedan hard enough that it shows me its roof and hood, then my focus goes to my sunglasses which have been bouncing back and forth between my face and the windshield. Funny how, immediately following something so horrific, something as trivial as a pair of Walmart sunglasses becomes worth caring about.

I look back up in time to see that the Kia has spun 200* or so, and I have bounced back into the middle of the intersection.

Four people in the Kia. Driver gets out, shaken like me. I'm on the phone to 911. The thirteen year old girl sitting behind the driver gets out, eyes glazed over, blood dripping from her chin and cheek. The other thirteen year old girl in the backseat is crying and says she doesn't know if she can get out.

Fuck.

Three hours later, I'm home, starting to get sore, planning on going to urgent care in the morning to get checked out. Other driver was cited for failure to yield.

I only have liability on the Galant. Other driver couldn't get his insurance card out of the glove box after being hit on that side. I have to call him tomorrow to try and get his information. Wish me luck that it goes well.

I can fix or replace the Galant. I just hope the girls in the Kia are okay and home by now. Pictures tell the tale. I'm going to snap some hi-res pics tomorrow with Vanessa's Nikon.

Fuck.

The Kia:


The Galant:


The scene (Facing SW. I was headed north - to the right - in this picture):