Good News! The Airbags on My Car Work

I was involved in an accident on my way home from work yesterday. Yes, I'm fine. My car, however, is not.

I was driving home, and had just come off the M9. The slip road here descends down to a roundabout, where there is frequently a queue. Very often, at this point I bear right and go through Grangemouth.

However, last night there was a queu in both lanes, which is unusual. That being the case, I decided to stick in the left lane which, if the queues are equal, is the slightly quicker route. So, I came to a halt a good distance from the car in front, and was all set to wait.

I chanced to look in my rear-view mirror, and saw a car coming down the road towards me at some speed. At which point I realised, "he's going to hit me".

And, sure enough, there was a shriek of his brakes, and then a BANG! from behind me, then a BANG! from in front of me as I hit the car in front, and that was that. Somewhere in there my airbags deployed, though I'm not conscious of it.

Fortunately, nobody was hurt. We moved our cars onto the hard shoulder, and then it was the usual matter of exchanging details, calling insurance companies, and arranging for recovery.

Less fortunately, my car is off the road. Obviously, it isn't road-worthy - the airbags going off ensures that - but it also doesn't start, so even if I wanted to move it I couldn't. There is some damage to the front of the car, a cracked bumper and some denting on the bonnet, and rather more damage to the back. The front windscreen is badly cracked on the passenger side, damage that was actually caused when the airbags went off. Oh, and my CD is stuck in the player. I don't want to prejudge it, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if it's a write-off.

So that's that. I guess any crash you walk away from is a 'good' one, but it's definitely a problem I could do without. And it's funny just how quickly your plans can be scattered to the winds in just a moment.