2017 2nd Car Accident (I)

Last (Dec 11, 2017) evening, I was driving down San Tomas
toward #17 to Santa Cruz (for a BJJ lesson). It was getting 
dark and I drove gingerly among home-bound fellow commuters.
A couple of weeks ago, I slipped and hit the center-divider
when coming down the mountains. The memory was fresh and I
was extra cautious. 

A few seconds after stopping in the middle lane in front of
the red lights under I-280 (moorpark), my car was hit hard
from behind. I was not injured and about to step out to
exchange insurance info. I was rear-ended three times in the
past and expected the other driver to do the same.

To my surprise, the crook turned left, passed me, and 
shifted to the left-turn-only lane three or four cars ahead
and stopped after the two cars in that lane waiting for the 
light. Obviously, he didn't want to talk. I got out and ran
after the Lexus. There seemed to be a passenger as well. I
heard a woman's voice "Don't get yourself hurt!" I went
behind the car and took a better look at its license plate
and went back. A man's asked "Did you get his plate
number?" I nodded and gave a thumb-up.

The lights turned green and traffic started to move. My car
felt OK. In a minute, a Mercedes came up in the carpool lane
to my right and the driver was talking to me. I lowered the
passenger-side window and he was asking if I needed a
witness for the accident. I said thank-you and we pulled
over to the right shoulder before Payne. Chris was his name                                                  
and he told me he saw everything and the Lexus actually hit
another car before mine. I was very thankful and took his
phone number.

The next morning, I went to the Santa Clara Police
Department but they said I should go to San Jose. Luckily, I
knew the area well, went there and filed the report. The
officer was friendly, I was prepared and we finished
business in no time. It struck me how important writing was
as I needed to write down in detail what happened in the
report. It had to be accurate and short.

Overall, this was a good experience. I ran into one asshole
but met warm-hearted and brave fellow citizens along the
way. This was actually the first time I entered a police 
station since I came to the West. It went well, too, and I
felt I did the right thing and one reason was that Chris
stood up and did his part.

(To be continued.)

[7grizzly]

Thank you for reading and your kind comments.

Yes. He could have been in big trouble. And indeed I was lucky, again ;-)
I was more impressed with Chris (more about him later). I wish I can do my part in a similar situation.

[暖冬cool夏]

The guy got himself in trouble by hit-and-run. Very fortunately you had a witness, who volunteered to help. Thank God! Hope your case got settled well, and the runaway guy, who thought he could get away with it，deserved any penalty for his irresponsible act. Be safe and sound, my friend.