Friday, December 23, 2016

Poomobile in an accident at Speedway and Kolb

I made a tragic mistake today. I left work a little bit early. I made it three blocks from the TV station and I was involved in a four car crash. That's what I get for being nice to myself leaving before I usually do.

A man in a Toyota convertible left the Walmart Supercenter parking lot (which was insanely busy today due to last minute Christmas shoppers) at Speedway and Kolb and crossed against three lanes of traffic to make it into one of the left turn lanes heading northbound where my car was sitting waiting for the light to change to green. He didn't make it across safely and got in the way of a woman driving a mini van in the leftbound lane and their two vehicles plowed into the back of the poomobile as well as crashing into another vehicle. I was the last car to get hit and it smushed the rear end.

The good news: Everyone has insurance, I wasn't injured, and the Toyota driver was at fault. The bad news: The back of the poomobile is now half as large as it used to be. It ended up getting towed and I'll find out in about a week if it's going to be repairable. The car is still worth a little over $10,000 according to Kelly Blue Book so it's probably going to be close as to whether it's totaled or they can fix it. Car bodies are built these days where significant damage like this requires a big piece of the car to be replaced. That ain't cheap.

In the meantime, I have a rental which I'll have to drive to the tow yard this weekend. I need to get my employee badge and door card for the entrance at work out of the poomobile since I stupidly forgot to grab them before they towed it away.

What a way to end a year.

Three of the four cars involved in the accident at Speedway and Kolb.
Unfortunately, one of them belongs to me.

Paramedics arrive but no one needed to be treated for injuries

The guy in the red shirt was cited for failure to yield

The minivan and the SUV on the left were two of the four vehicles involved.

The poomobile got pushed sideways from the impact

Maybe the damage can be buffed out

The driver's side exhaust pipe was bent from the impact.
I couldn't close the trunk lid for some reason, either.

Passenger side view of the back of the poomobile

I was able to move the poomobile into position to be towed

Tow truck company guy gets to work untangling the mess.
Hard to believe the Toyota has that little bit of damage on the
passenger side and it's what hit the back of my car that
caused such significant damage to the poomobile.

Four police cars responded to the accident scene at Speedway and Kolb

I asked the police for a pat down but didn't get any volunteers.
I guess I'm not sexy as an accident victim.
Officers were still helpful at the scene anyway.
Thank you Tucson Police!