The Accident and the Idiot

I was making a right turn, one of those protected by an island. I thought I could go, but realized a car was going faster than I had thought, so I stopped. Four seconds later.... BAM!

I got rear-ended. I pulled over to the side, stuck my hand out of the window motioning the car behind me to pull over. It didn't.

I got out of the car and motioned for the car to pull over. It was still frozen. I kept motioning and telling the person to pull over, pointing behind my car. The car pulled out into the road as if to drive off.

I ran into the middle of the road in front of the car screaming. "You hit me! Pull over!" The car stopped before hitting me. I walked around to the man's open window. "You hit me, right?! Pull over!" The man, a black man in a silver car with paper plates indicating the newness of his vehicle, meekly answered, "I was pulling over." I said ok and started walking back to my car.

Suddenly, the man peeled out and sped off.

I jumped into my car, started it, and raced after him.

But I couldn't catch him. I missed my exit looking for him. At a light, a woman in a red SUV pulled up next to me and we talked through the open windows. "I saw what happened. I can't believe he drove off. I would be so pissed."

At the next light, a bearded man got out of his pickup truck behind me and walked to my window. "I saw what happened back there. I've already called the police and given them a description. They're looking for the guy." At that point, I halted my search and turned around to go back home.

I was surprised at the mention of the police. It never occurred to me to call them. The funny thing is that had the guy pulled over and we exchanged information, I likely wouldn't have even called in the claim to the insurance company. It's just nice to have the information in case something did unexpectedly happen to the car on the way home.

I was pleasantly surprised that so many people had my back. I thought to myself, even though people are miserable and stupid, they're also wonderful. I had another thought; I'm lucky this happened in Virginia, because if it happened in Maryland or DC, nobody would've given a damn.