And what have we learned, Dorothy?

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Dont assume anything.

I guess thats the lesson.

Have to vent.

Was in traffic accident ( no one was injured).
Was the other guys fault.

I was stationary. The 18 wheel tractor-trailor that sideswiped my little minivan was moving slow. But enough to total my car.

Was heading one way on a narrow twisty road. He was headed the other way.

Just I was rounding a really tight turn in the road the truck was coming the other way. I could see the truck was swerving WAY into my lane- like several feet into my lane. It was obvious that if I kept moving we would hit. So I slammed on the breaks and made a dead stop. But he hit me anyway. several seconds of grinding metal tearing up the the car.

So i was stuck pinned to his tracktor trailer.

I was stunned for a moment. FInnally I realized I had to drag myself across my seat and exit out the passenger door to inspect the damage. Just then the young truck driver appears at my window. He barks orders at me that I have to "move my car".

I assumed that it was obvious to everyone within a thousand yards that he just loudly sideswiped me. And here he as the audacity to to ask ME to move MY car? He doesnt ask me if im hurt, nor need assistence?

But his apparent bravado was so authoritive that I was speechless. So I tried to move my car. And my right mirror fell off.

He blames ME for my mirror falling off.

The upshot of all this this the driver apparently was honestly unaware that he had sideswiped my car and totaled it. And honestly thought I was just sitting there. He later lied so well to the police that the cop (the cop whined that he hadnt seen the accident) refused to take sides. The trouble is that he 'lied' so well precisely because from his wrong pov he probably wasnt lying because he hadnt seen what had happened himself from the skewed pov of his cab. He was convinced that I managed to start my car from zero and accelerate so fast that I was able to total my car brushing up against his truck!

Anyway- If I had had my wits about me I wouldve told him when he appeared at the window to not order me to move until we look at the damage. Then I . Obviously he could be lying now. Lying anyway. But If I were certain he had seen the damage- i would KNOW that he knew what happened -so i would know that he really was consciously lying- and not just misapprehending what happened.

Not a damn thing.
Jerks like that walk all over me all the time. After a half century of this kind of crap,
I’ve learned that I’ll never be fast enough to react correctly,
and that the best thing is to stay as far away as possible from people like that.

The only alternative to being a nice person (me) is to become a jerk,
always on high-alert, always ready to pick a fight,
always ready to assume the worst of everyone…
I’ve half-heartedly tried it a few times, but I can’t maintain it.
Mainly because I don’t really want to live like that.
Even if I could do it, it’s not worth it.

I hope they tested him for drugs and alcohol. sorry you had to go through that. I hope his insurance pays for everything. you should fight for him to be 100% at fault.

I hope that they can look at the scene and decide in your favor.What a bummer.
Maybe you should get a lawyer.
I'm glad you made it out ok,a semi hit my daughter's school bus once,luckily no one was hurt.But the school bus driver quit.
We get lots of wrecks here on our curvy roads,lots involve semi trucks left of center.

Glad to hear you didn't get hurt at least.

That truck driver sounds like a total jerk, though. Hope his insurance can buy you a new car.

something like that happened to me a few years back, the other driver [a sicko-path, as far as i'm concerned] tried to open my door and drag me out, I locked the door before he got there, so he just spit on my window and screamed curses at me for about a half hour, then he drove away [hit and run] then came back a half hour later, just before the cop got there, he started chatting up the cop real nice and buddy-buddy, and had the cop believing him that it was my fault, then the cop came over and inspected my back bumper and quietly said to me that it was the other guy's fault but that since the damage was below a certain threshold it was just up to my insurance company [?]. there are a lot of sickos out there behind the wheel, that is for sure.

So glad you're OK. Sorry about your car though and there's nothing else you could have done. You don't need to learn anything that you don't already know. I wonder if the guy who hit you has a history of such incidents? Anyway, you have the truth on your side (and he doesn't).

It sound like there were witnesses, did you get any details?

Bravado goes such a long way in this world.

Where does bravado stop and intimidation start?

If you don't buy the bravado, I think the intimidation starts immediately. Some people will fiercely protect their perception of reality and themselves regardless of how far-fetched it is.

Sorry, very badly worded on my part.
There is an overlap in my opinion, ultimately the difference is determined by the person on the receiving end.

Well, maybe a house will fall on him. Or at least a really, really heavy Hummer. You'll get the ruby slippers. Bring on the flying monkeys.

Small roads are very hazardous. It's good that you were ok despite the damage to your vehicle.

We have a lot of bad drivers near to my home in Birmingham. There are lots of small country lanes that are unfortunately 60mph zones, and there is a rich housing estate nearby, where they all drive fancy cars really fast. I've had it before where I was driving down one of the wider lanes and saw a car coming the other way at speed. I tried to move over more towards the verge but before I knew it there was a tremendous bang as he'd clipped the side of my car, ripping my side mirror right off. It must have shattered his mirror as well but the idiot didn't even slow down.

Driving can be so hazardous!

Tons of traffic- zillions of irate drivers going both ways all stopped by our incident.

Did snap out of my state of shock in time to do SOME quick thinking. I did get the name and number of the young lady in the car behind me as a witness.

Talked to her over the weekend. She was neutral as to who hit who. But I told her that the driver "seemed to think that the actual accident occurred AFTER he got out of the truck to order me around." She confirmed that "thats crazy" and that obviously our vehicles made contact before he got out of the cab.

So thats something atleast.

I hope this is found in your favour, glad you were not hurt.

I'm assuming it was the front part of the trailer that hit your van?