This is an "incident report" that I created immediately following the collision described below, with minor updates the following day.  I had posted this and some photos online initially in order to relay the tale to friends and family, but eventually this description and those photos were the only information either insurance company had to go on.  Nice.

What

Illegal left turn by The Other Driver, she hit me!

When

Wednesday, July 24, 2002, approximately 10:30am

Where

700 W Glendale Ave(Yahoo Map)

Why?

Because that is my kind of luck...

The Details

I was traveling westbound on Glendale Avenue in lane #2 (middle lane of 3). On entering the intersection of Glendale Avenue and 7th Avenue, I observed the other driver entering the intersection at high speed and making a left turn-- eastbound on Glendale Avenue turning left, northbound onto 7th Avenue..

Hoping that this driver had seen my approaching vehicle, and since I had the legal right of way (the intersetion is controlled by standard traffic control signals, and the green light at that time gave right of way to straight-line traffic east and west on Glendale Avenue. No turn arrow gave additional right of way to any driver making a turn, thus the other driver would have been required to wait until traffic was clear before completing the turn) I had hoped that that driver would interrupt the left turn. On that line of thinking, I immediately applied brakes and attempted to clear the front of that vehicle by turning my car to the right of the other driver's vehicle.

Had that vehicle come to a stop or at least slowed significantly during the illegal turn, I suspect (though I cannot say with any real certainty) that I may have cleared the front of the vehicle and would have been able to continue in the right-most lane, still westbound on Glendale Avenue.

However, the other driver failed to apply any braking force to her vehicle as indicated to me by the investigating officer, who saw firsthand that there were skid marks left on the pavement from my maneuver, but no such skid marks or any other indication of evasive or corrective attempts on the part of the other driver.

On coming to rest after the collision, I was able to see in my driver's side external mirror that the other car was facing south on 7th Avenue, while I had come to rest in the southbound right-most lane on 7th Avenue, facing approximately northwest. I then noticed, after checking whether myself and my passenger were in need of immediate emergency medical attention, that the other driver was apparently leaving the scene.

I exited my vehicle after having to force my driver's door open (made difficult due to the damage to front left part of the vehicle) and was able to see quite clearly that the other driver was fleeing the scene. Several drivers that were waiting at the intersection (likely watching this series of events unfold with some interest) yelled from their cars that the other driver was in fact "running away." One driver offered that I could get into his vehicle and follow the other car, which we did expeditiously.

The other car was moving at perhaps 20 mpg southbound on 7th Avenue in the right-most lane, with very obvious signs of damage to the vehicle. As we came upon the vehicle, the other driver slowed and stopped at the driveway of a parking lot entrance, but did not proceed up the driveway into the parking lot. Having my cell phone in hand, the driver who helped me follow the other car dropped me off and I proceeded to call 9-1-1 emergency services to report that this individual had fled the scene of an accident after causing said accident. They dispatched additional police units to the scene.

On exiting the vehicle, the other driver made several statements that indicated to me that she was confused and disoriented. It was apparent, in my non-professional opinion, that the other driver was not completely aware of what was happening, and while she appeared to be bleeding slightly on her mouth, she did not exhibit a clear understanding of why that was (I cannot speak to the precise cause of this injury, but I will point out that both airbags-- driver side and passenger side-- were deployed in her vehicle).

Several police arrived on scene, and found that the other driver did not possess any proof of insurance. Since the original accident occurred only 1 mile or less from the residence of the other driver, police were able to contact her husband, who arrived on scene with an insurance card in her name. At this time the husband of the other driver informed the investigating officer that his wife, the other driver, suffers from dementia and that his family had been debating recently whether they should take away the keys to her car.

Given this information, the investigating officer asked whether I would want to pursue the hit-and-run component of the incident (which would have resulted in a criminal citation being issued to the other driver), but we agreed that while she did commit the crime, we both felt that she quite clearly had no idea what was happening around her, and so fled not as a means of escaping responsibility, but because she was not completely aware of events that had taken place.

It is my opinion, and the opinion of the investigating officer who filed the accident report indicated above, that this woman should not have been behind the wheel of that or any vehicle, and was not competent to drive.

Last modified: Thu Jul 25 15:14:13 MST 2002