My first automobile accident occurred when I was around five years old. And yes, I was the driver. My sister and I were sitting in the back seat of my grandfather's car and he had stopped to run into the post office to pick up some mail. I, being the rambunctious youngster that I was, decided that I would "drive" the car while he was inside the post office. I crawled into the front seat and started spinning the wheel just like David Hassellhoff did on Knight Rider. Papa (aka my grandfather) had put the car in park, but he hadn't anticipated that my foot would knock the car into neutral when I crawled into the driver's seat. I rolled the car right into the parked car in front of us. THAT wasn't supposed to happen. I vaguely remember getting into a lot of trouble for that one, though no one was hurt.
My second automobile accident happened last week. I was driving the car this time, too, though the resulting accident wasn't my fault. I was in the inside lane going through an intersection when the other driver decided to turn onto the street. They had a red light, but there wasn't anything posted about not turning on red. There was actually nothing wrong with them making the turn except that they didn't quite turn far enough. Instead, my car helped them into the outside lane. Unfortunately, this "help" left a few impacts on my new car.
This car (a 2007 Toyota Camry) was my first new car. Cara and I got it on December 31. Easy day to remember, I suppose. Stinks that it happened to this car instead of the one I traded in, eh? The damage really isn't that bad, though, and the car is certainly still drivable. I took it in to a body shop this morning and they think they'll be able to get it fixed and back to me by the weekend, which will be nice. They'll have to replace the panel above the front right wheel as well as the fender. All they'll have to do to the passenger door is buff the scratches out and repaint it.
I'm fortunate that everything so far has gone very smoothly. The woman who hit me was very gracious and felt awful about the accident. Their insurance company has been very helpful thus far so, as far as accidents go, this one hasn't been too bad. Though I certainly don't want it to happen again!
NOTE - It is really, really annoying to get letters from chiropractors and lawyers literally days after the accident. Not only is it annoying, but it seems highly unprofessional to me. Particularly when you get the same letter from the same lawyer twice... in one day! But then again, I'm no chiropractor or lawyer. What do I know?