My Poor Car

I was recently hired by these girls to shoot some internet specs they are doing. To be honest I don’t quite know what it is. I actually got this gig responding to a Craig’s List post of all things, Popped my Craig’s List cherry but that whole situation is a story in itself. They live down the street from me on Laurel Canyon and they told me to be at their place by 4:30, but rescheduled about 3 other times until 5:30 was the time to be there.

At 5:30 I parked my car on Laurel Canyon. Got buzzed in and was walking up the stairs when I heard - BAM - CRASH - SKID - BAM! - It sounded horrible. I turned and saw a woman behind me run towards the gate I just walked through, I briskly followed her, my sick fuck impulse kicked in wondering what kind of horrible accident I was going to see. As I exited the gate I observed a Mercedes, about 10 feet from where I parked (I parked 10 feet from a fire hydrant), that had skipped over the curb and hit the hydrant to the point where it was nearly touching the ground. I then looked over my car which looked silent and peaceful but then immediate worry came over me as I said out loud to myself, “I hope to god she didn’t hit my car.” During this entire time the front right tire that had smashed in the hydrant was spinning like a tire stuck in the mud. When I reached my car the reality became clear. The back wheel of the car was bent into the car - scraped - the wheel itself and the side of the car, dented and bent - tire flat. As I was looking at this the woman approached.

She was elderly, spoke broken English. As I was thinking of what to say to her she said:

“I need you help me leave”
“What?!”
“Can you help me… get out?”
“Wait. No, no. You hit my car. Do you see what you did here?”
“That? Oh no. Not me”
“Are you kidding. I just parked here literally 2 minutes ago. Are you going to try to tell me you didn’t do this.”
“That. I don’t know that. I didn’t do that. I got hit over here. I need to leave.”
“No. You aren’t leaving. I need your information.”
“I will give you my information if you help me leave”

At this point I show her over to her car and explain to her that it is not moving. I called the girls to tell them what happened. They rushed down with camera in hand and started to film the whole thing. I kept trying to exchange information with her but she was fairly senile and/or was unable to understand me. She kept telling me her daughter was coming. She claims three different cars driving by are her daughter. One of the cars parks, a woman gets out with a child and walks toward us, the woman says, “This is my daughter.” Then the woman passes us by. Her inability to see or know who her daughter is reflects her ability to see parked cars and fire hydrants. During this waiting period one of the girls called the cops because she said she knew someone that worked at the Studio City Police Dept. He wasn’t on duty that evening. The police said if it wasn’t blocking a major intersection they weren’t coming. She then told them that a fire hydrant had been knocked over. Eh. Glad our taxes dollars are at work, this woman should be paying for this but now we will.

Finally the real daughter comes and we clear it up. Except for two things which is the moral of the story. I am going to attack two things here. Family and Elderly driving. One of the girls explains to the daughter about how she thought 3 other people were her, even when they were right in front of her, and as a concerned citizen she might want to consider her ability to drive. The daughter replied that no she is a good driver, she has been driving for 45 years. I guess that’s why she was in the situation she was in. After what happened at the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market when an old man, after feeling the scene of a minor accident mistook his accelerator for a brake and killed over 10 people having a nice day getting some fruit. I believe strongly that the drivers test needs to be reinstated at a certain age and that people need to take more of a responsibility to ensure that people passed their prime are not behind a wheel. She couldn’t see if someone with a child was you or not but her vision is good enough to drive?

Then as I was showing the daughter the damage I took her aside to explain to her that she was trying leave. Oh no she wasn’t doing that. I tried to explain again but she wouldn’t even hear it. I think the idea of family being close should not be about denying and in the face of logic. I would be behind anyone in my family but not to the point where I am defending for the sake of blood. One should look at the situation at hand and judge by that. Sure she doesn’t know me but is it impossible to admit that she probably isn’t in the best state of her life to be driving a car? It is irresponsible for her to defend her when she is putting people in danger.

I recently got a bike for $50. Guess I will be bike boy for a little while. Lucky me. Now I am going to get hit by some old lady on my bike.