Bumper Basher

The fancy chrome rear bumper on my Toyota Tacoma apparently does more than just look good. And house the license plate. While it came out second best when my truck was rear-ended by a PT Cruiser this morning on Wheaton Way, it appears to have prevented any damage to the rest of the vehicle.

In heavy traffic and a light rain, I was slowing down as we approached the Sylvan Way intersection. The lady behind me apparently didn’t slow as much. There was a loud bang—a noise that can only be duplicated when two vehicles collide—followed by a sharp jolt from the rear. I have no idea of the differential in our speeds. My guess is around 10 mph. Neither of us was hurt.

The impact twisted the bumper and bent the brackets that attach it to the frame. The bumper might be repairable; the brackets are a total loss. Fortunately the truck is drivable and the rear sheet metal seems to be undamaged, so there shouldn’t be any paint work necessary. The PT Cruiser was unscathed except for a mangled front license plate frame. How embarrassing. A small passenger car mixes it up with my tough (?) Toyota truck and my vehicle is the one going to the body shop.

We were only a couple of blocks from the library, and I was on my way there anyway, so I suggested to the other driver that we meet there to exchange insurance information. That seemed a lot more pleasant than sorting things out in the rain. We grabbed a small conference room at the library and each wrote down all the particulars. She is insured by State Farm and lives in Bremerton.

Later I went back to Shannon Auto Sales as the accident happened right in front of their car lot. I didn’t think I would need a witness as the claim should be well under $1000 and the other driver isn’t disputing that it was her fault. Still, I was curious if anyone there had seen it happen. No one had, but the accident is on tape. Shannon has several security cameras strategically positioned on their lot, including one that faces Wheaton Way. The purpose of the camera is to make a record of any vehicles that enter and leave the lot, but it also recorded the accident. I knew I should have washed the truck last weekend.