About Me

My photo
Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts, United States

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Motor Vehicle Accident

At about 10:00 a.m., Wednesday, May 9, 2012, my wife, Barbara Rockefeller
and I, Patrick Kimball, were driving on Tremont St. in Boston to an
appointment with an orthopedic surgeon at New England Baptist Hospital.
She was driving; I was navigating by following a Google map and directions
from Cape Cod.

The map shows Tremont St. turning right. We did not see the small sign
on a post at the right that indicated where Tremont St. turns right until
we were close to it. We assumed that the right lane would turn right,
and that cars in the left lane could turn right also, or continue straight
ahead on Route 28. This is a configuration that we are used to.

I told Barbara to turn right from the left lane that we were driving in.
At the moment that we were starting to turn, an unknown vehicle
traveling in the right lane passed us and was scraped by our right front
fender. Presumably, the driver intended to drive straight ahead from
the right lane.

After completing the turn, we stopped at the first safe place to inspect
the damage, and to wait for the other driver to appear to exchange information.
No one showed up, so we proceeded slowly up Tremont St. to the traffic
lights on Parker St. As we stopped, a young woman with dark hair banged
on the side window and exclaimed, "You hit me!"

Barbara motioned her to follow us, as the light changed. We assumed
that she was right behind us, and would follow in her car. There was no
safe place to stop again until we arrived at the hospital, a few blocks away.
We never saw her again. Assuming that she noted our license number, MA
133CS2, we notified our insurance agent immediately upon returning home,
so that the other driver could reach us.

Patrick Kimball
May 10,2012

Addendum
June 13, 2012

Today we revisited the hospital, for a followup appointment with the
surgeon. We were driven by a car service from Cape Cod. Following the
same route as in the accident, we noticed three signs on the right before
Tremont Street turns a sharp right, reading: "Right lane must turn right."

Of course, that doesn't explain the circumstances of the accident. We have
no idea what the intentions of the other driver were. We only know that
she didn't turn right after the accident. We are mystified as to how she
managed to squeeze her vehicle between a solid line of parked cars and
ours.

No comments: