Thanks Bonnie. I know you were terrified for the kids at the time. It's certainly stressful to say the least :o) A couple of years ago my daughter and I were sitting at a stop light waiting for it to change when we were rear-ended by an older lady, her husband, and their grandchild. They were not hurt, but we were and it totalled my car. It pushed me into the car in front of me and the folks in that car were not wearing seatbelts so they got thrown around inside their vehicle. The folks in the front vehicle were the first out to check on everyone and they called the police. They checked on us and we asked about the folks in the vehicle behind us. They then took off and we never heard from them again. The folks who hit us were not injured at all, but Haley and I could not get out of the vehicle. They never left their vehicle and when the police showed up, they told the officer that I was driving in reverse at the stop light and hit them! It was amazing what folks will come up with. It was obvious that even I had been going in reverse that the damage done could not have been done if they were stopped at the light behind us like they should have been. I looked up in my rear-view window just in time to see them headed for us and not slowing down, but with another vehicle in front us, there was nothing I could do. I could clearly see the driver on the phone and turned around talking to someone behind her. I didn't know at the time it was a child. I automatically looked to my right at Haley and stuck my arm out in front of her (big mistake, but it's something a parent does without thinking) and got hit from behind turned that way. Needless to say, the front car leaving the scene (we figured she didn't have a license, insurance, or something was wrong) and the folks in the vehicle that hit us coming up with that crazy story made it all look like an insurance scam. A few officers showed up and none of them could determine that the lady behind us was at fault or not. It took inspectors looking at the damage to my vehicle to determine that. I was scared for Haley first, then furious at the stories they were telling. The worst part: when Haley went back to school after a week, it turned out to be the parents of one of her teachers and the child in the vehicle was his daughter. Haley, who has an over-developed sense of right and wrong, couldn't help herself from informing her teacher (in front of the entire class) how dishonest his parents were. I think she was in junior high then and could really let loose with indignation. :o)




>Tracy,
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>Glad to hear that the kids weren't hurt too bad. I know how scary that can be (my oldest son had a pretty bad accident about 10 years ago, he swerved to avoid hitting several deer and ended up losing control and hitting a tree and totally demolished the front end of his car ... he wasn't hurt, but his then-girlfriend broke both her ankles).
>
>But, what I wanted to comment on was the lady who went on a tirade and yelled at everyone. Gary and I were involved in an accident a few years ago ... he almost avoided it by quick reactions (he'd been involved with race car driving for a couple of years), but the lady hit us anyway. We got spun around and ended up backend first in the irrigation ditch (our trunk filled up with water). Neither of us were hurt, but we were most definitely very angry at the stupid driver that hit us. We managed to climb out of our car and out of the ditch without getting wet, all set to start yelling at the driver. Until we saw her. She was an elderly lady (82 as it turned out) and she was just sitting there with her head on her arms on the wheel, not moving at all. We thought she was hurt and boy, did that ever change everything! All the anger went away and we were very concerned about her. My point with this story is that anger is the first reaction, probably from anybody (unless you're hurt, then it's probably fear). I think it's a natural reaction. But then you get over it. You have to, if you're a civilized person.
>
>~~Bonnie
>
>
>>>>Well said Michel.
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>>>I hope this financial situation will switch on the other side by the summer time. I also had major contracts up and running until December which were running extremely well. One has been put on stop mode because of the financial issue since the beginning of the year, basically, zero hour has been billed on that one since over two months. The other ones seem to also have suffered a lot from this financial situation as well and I am just running like hell to find financial support in every way I could to keep all this going until everything starts to run as it used to be.
>>>
>>>Add to that badlucks as yesterday I got an email from our gateway company saying that they will no longer support their clients for the online processing payments as they have been bought by another company and the policies have changed. So, I have to switch to another gateway and the welcome bill is 500.00$. lol
>>>
>>>But, I am working on something big. It doesn't get any dollar presently but if that works, on the long run, I believe we will be in a much better shape. And, the timeframe will also match, I believe, an upcoming improvement overall in the financial crisis.
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>>I think you are at least viewing it from a healthy standpoint. It does not good to get upset over things - just do what you can to get through it or improve in any way you can, but always welcome change.
>>
>>Last weekend my 17 year old daughter was one of several folks hurt in a multiple vehicle crash on a rainy day. There were three vehicles involved and my daughter was a passenger (with her seat belt on) in one of them. She and her boyfriend were just sitting at a stop light waiting for it to change when someone tried but failed to make the turn and hit their car in the driver's door which then threw them into another a large Toyota tundra truck in the lane next to them and my daughter and the her boyfriend were pinned in (they were in a small Ford Ranger truck). The driver at fault took a right-hand turn at almost 50mph in the rain. The driver of the Toyota tundra (the vehicle my daughter's vehicle was thrown into) was so upset she started yelling who was at fault and that the other kid (he was in a Hyundai Tiburon) better get a ticket. She had no injuries but never once checked on a single one of the kids to see if they were injured. Every one was young except for her and her passenger. They were in the later 40s (about my age). when I arrived she was still standing there yelling. After I checked on the kids I walked over to her and gave her a good yelling myself and informed her that if and when she is a parent, I hope someone is kind enough to check first on her kids if they are ever in an accident before worrying who is going to be charged. I was fuming when I saw it all (after my initial panic receded). She was yelling and screaming about her poor truck and never checked on any of the kids. My daughter and her boyfriend were sitting in the Ford Ranger on their cell phones (calling 911 and their parents (I am one of them)). Just a couple of minutes earlier the driver at fault had run another truck off the road and that driver had called the cops. The cops were looking for the kid's vehicle when the crash occurred so they were there pretty fast. We just finished the MRI's yesterday and received notice from the neurosurgeon today to verify there was no permanent spinal injury. We also just found out that the driver at fault was a 17 year old boy with no auto insurance. So let me tell you - it can always get worse. Be happy!