Itinerant Air-Cooled

ugh, I just saw this! That stinks, Colin your new friend James (of Naranja windshield channel scraping fame) welded in a nice new piece of steel on my Military Doka which was fully crunched and sprayed blue. Maybe we could schedule that to take place here on your next visit if you want.

He did a real nice job bringing it back so it can "earn it's keep" on the farm...
Jeff

...that is really crappy...those photos made me nauseous.
...poor Naranja. I'm glad Colin is alright and Naranja is driveable.
...foreign grad students: can't live with 'em...pass the beer nuts.
miz

I am reading this now with some disbelief. "Learner's permit"? She doesn't have a license? Does NM allow "Learners" to make target runs on the public alone? No insurance and a learners permit combined? That will get you to jail here. Giving a false phone number to an officer of the law? Who sponsored this person being here? Is she with an agency or college? I would think they have a liability to help guide her through these things and help fix the damage she has done. Maybe where she is from they are sorry but do nothing about it. That is BS if how she is acting about this here. Her obligation is to pay for that damage NOW. No one forced her to get behind the wheel to make a target run on the public. Go get an attorney, file a les pendens and seize the car until she or the owner come forth with insurance or cash. I'll bet her car isn't even paid for. This whole thing is BS - someone HAS to be responsible. John - you are from NM, you get involved and help Colin. He was at your house. You didn't cause it but someone has to help with this until it is resolved. I really mean that too, If you are Colin's friend get on the phone and help him with this. He should not have to drive over to her house because she gave the officer a wrong number. She should be in front of a judge for driving without an license. And if she no shows then Immigration should be sticking her ass on an airplane bound back to from wherever she came from, and the car that hit Colin's bus should be seized and sold to pay for the damages. What if it had been someone on a bicycle or standing there to get in their car. No. She will have to pay. No quarter no mercy until she settles her debt in this.

You do not want her returning home saying - "America is such a great place, You can hit someone and easily avoid being responsible for the problems it created for others."

sgkent wrote:I am reading this now with some disbelief. "Learner's permit"? She doesn't have a license? Does NM allow "Learners" to make target runs on the public alone? No insurance and a learners permit combined? That will get you to jail here. Giving a false phone number to an officer of the law? Who sponsored this person being here? Is she with an agency or college? I would think they have a liability to help guide her through these things and help fix the damage she has done. Maybe where she is from they are sorry but do nothing about it. That is BS if how she is acting about this here. Her obligation is to pay for that damage NOW. No one forced her to get behind the wheel to make a target run on the public. Go get an attorney, file a les pendens and seize the car until she or the owner come forth with insurance or cash. I'll bet her car isn't even paid for. This whole thing is BS - someone HAS to be responsible. John - you are from NM, you get involved and help Colin. He was at your house. You didn't cause it but someone has to help with this until it is resolved. I really mean that too, If you are Colin's friend get on the phone and help him with this. He should not have to drive over to her house because she gave the officer a wrong number. She should be in front of a judge for driving without an license. And if she no shows then Immigration should be sticking her ass on an airplane bound back to from wherever she came from, and the car that hit Colin's bus should be seized and sold to pay for the damages. What if it had been someone on a bicycle or standing there to get in their car. No. She will have to pay. No quarter no mercy until she settles her debt in this.

You do not want her returning home saying - "America is such a great place, You can hit someone and easily avoid being responsible for the problems it created for others."

I hear ya, Steve, and have volunteered to help out Colin in any way that I can, starting as a witness to the whole damned thing.

The woman in the photo is not the owner, she is a visiting student. The owner is a friend of hers, and he is also a visiting student. She was driving with a learner's permit, which is legal here, but she was issued three citations by the cop for failure to have registration and insurance available and for I forget the third one--probably careless driving.

And, yes, they are both clueless as heck. Things are different in China. However, as I have learned from talking with other Chinese about their country and ours, bribes and payoff are a way of life there. I have suggested that Colin negotiate a simple cash payout of whatever it takes, and be done with it. That should sound like business as usual to a Chinese national. If the car is impounded, the owner my still just leave it behind and go. Then, if it is sold, I expect law enforcement would garner the proceeds.

At any rate, Colin met with the owner this morning, I think. I did find where the red car is parked at some nearby apartments, and we have is location. I have not talked to Colin since, as he is with pmaggiore today and tomorrow working, but I will be facilitating.

As for a sponsoring agency, they are both here visiting Los Alamos National Laboratory, so we might make some inquiries as to what pressure they might apply to getting this resolved.

jtauxe wrote:

sgkent wrote:I am reading this now with some disbelief. "Learner's permit"? She doesn't have a license? Does NM allow "Learners" to make target runs on the public alone? No insurance and a learners permit combined? That will get you to jail here. Giving a false phone number to an officer of the law? Who sponsored this person being here? Is she with an agency or college? I would think they have a liability to help guide her through these things and help fix the damage she has done. Maybe where she is from they are sorry but do nothing about it. That is BS if how she is acting about this here. Her obligation is to pay for that damage NOW. No one forced her to get behind the wheel to make a target run on the public. Go get an attorney, file a les pendens and seize the car until she or the owner come forth with insurance or cash. I'll bet her car isn't even paid for. This whole thing is BS - someone HAS to be responsible. John - you are from NM, you get involved and help Colin. He was at your house. You didn't cause it but someone has to help with this until it is resolved. I really mean that too, If you are Colin's friend get on the phone and help him with this. He should not have to drive over to her house because she gave the officer a wrong number. She should be in front of a judge for driving without an license. And if she no shows then Immigration should be sticking her ass on an airplane bound back to from wherever she came from, and the car that hit Colin's bus should be seized and sold to pay for the damages. What if it had been someone on a bicycle or standing there to get in their car. No. She will have to pay. No quarter no mercy until she settles her debt in this.

You do not want her returning home saying - "America is such a great place, You can hit someone and easily avoid being responsible for the problems it created for others."

I hear ya, Steve, and have volunteered to help out Colin in any way that I can, starting as a witness to the whole damned thing.

The woman in the photo is not the owner, she is a visiting student. The owner is a friend of hers, and he is also a visiting student. She was driving with a learner's permit, which is legal here, but she was issued three citations by the cop for failure to have registration and insurance available and for I forget the third one--probably careless driving.

And, yes, they are both clueless as heck. Things are different in China. However, as I have learned from talking with other Chinese about their country and ours, bribes and payoff are a way of life there. I have suggested that Colin negotiate a simple cash payout of whatever it takes, and be done with it. That should sound like business as usual to a Chinese national. If the car is impounded, the owner my still just leave it behind and go. Then, if it is sold, I expect law enforcement would garner the proceeds.

At any rate, Colin met with the owner this morning, I think. I did find where the red car is parked at some nearby apartments, and we have is location. I have not talked to Colin since, as he is with pmaggiore today and tomorrow working, but I will be facilitating.

As for a sponsoring agency, they are both here visiting Los Alamos National Laboratory, so we might make some inquiries as to what pressure they might apply to getting this resolved.

Go for it John - if I can help in anyway let me know. Accidents happen however failure to meet responsibility is a national pastime pulling this country down to its knees. I personally know you, and that you are a very responsible person who had no part in the accident. We Americans need to stick together and demand responsibility from others. Accident like this happen hundreds of times across the USA every day and go without financial retribution only because we allow it. When I am in foreign countries I take a taxi - for the reason simply that I do not know the customs nor have the reflexes of someone who lives and drives there every day.

Well,

Since the title of this thread lays blame on me for this incident taking place and as such, this accident is clearly my fault, let me know if you want me to call some friends of mine. They are known to be excellent collectors. :)

wcfvw69 wrote:Well, let me know if you want me to call some friends of mine.

Hey! Weez got Tony and Vito. Weez visited da skanks yesterday,
Tony sez, "hey, that's a nice visa youse got there, hate for something to happen to it, kapiche?"

I will update you as soon as I have verified the insurance policy on the other car.
ColinStuckInLosAlamosTilMorrow

Ugh - this make me mad. It made me mad when the Road Warrior took its fatal blow. It made me mad reading about this incident. So many shit boxes on the road driven by people that don't give a shit smacking into near museum-quality maintained cars. Yes I know accidents happen. Yes I know it is just a car. But the sight of a car that has been meticulously maintained sustaining stupid body damage makes me sick to my stomach.

Sorry, Collin.

Mr Blotto wrote:Ugh - this make me mad. It made me mad when the Road Warrior took its fatal blow. It made me mad reading about this incident. So many shit boxes on the road driven by people that don't give a shit smacking into near museum-quality maintained cars. Yes I know accidents happen. Yes I know it is just a car. But the sight of a car that has been meticulously maintained sustaining stupid body damage makes me sick to my stomach.

Sorry, Collin.

Update. I visited the owner of the car. We had a nice conversation that included figuring out how I can best pronounce his name, suggestions about how to proceed, and what to do about Lin Ling . . . that made him laugh.

He is a Progressive Insurance policy holder as am I, and I called Progressive to make sure he showed up in their database as "current". The representative and I (again) choked on the pronunciation of his name, but it is him, regardless. I will get an appraisal in Dallas.

What gets me,is the utter absence of logical explanation as to how this accident occurred. That makes me feel more vulnerable to the vagaries of idiocy. Had she been on the phone, I could have at least rebuked her. I could keep an ever keener eye out for those who like to amuse themselves with anything but driving while driving. But this, inexplicable. She will never know the extent of unwelcome time investment that I must fold into a still challenging schedule.

I had some good solid appointments in Los Alamos that I will write up when I get the chance, but generally speaking, the Volkswagen crowd on the edge of the caldera is now a bit more mobile.
Colin

That's heartening news! I'm gonna guess that she was texting, and drifted right into Naranja. Who would have ever thought that a form of telephone communication would result in so much carnage. The number of distracted driving accidents increased by 22% in 2011 and resulted in 3,331 fatalities. Texting while driving is a leading cause of distracted driving. However, the NHTSA reports that texting while driving is currently responsible for approximately 1.6 million accidents every year – about 25% of all driving accidents. A friend of mines 20 year old daughter was killed, while jogging on a jogging trail, by a young woman who was texting and drove off the road onto the trail. I was driving in New York state last week, and saw signs that two "driving while texting" offences will result in the loss of your driver's license. Good idea.

Jivermo wrote:… Texting while driving is a leading cause of distracted driving. However, the NHTSA reports that texting while driving is currently responsible for approximately 1.6 million accidents every year – about 25% of all driving accidents. A friend of mines 20 year old daughter was killed, while jogging on a jogging trail, by a young woman who was texting and drove off the road onto the trail. I was driving in New York state last week, and saw signs that two "driving while texting" offences will result in the loss of your driver's license. Good idea.

Those statistics are insane! I have seen my share of lane drifting; why, my judicious horn application saved my paint just yesterday!

Colin, your incident has re-heightened my sense of "not going to park here" right back to the pinnacle of possible worry. JUST when I was getting over that fear…… I hope there are some seriously qualified and experienced folks making your estimates and potential repairs. I am happy to babysit Naranja at a shop if you would like to fly to grab Chloe/BobD for the rest of your run. You're also welcome to borrow Buddy if you need an intermediate steed.

Robbie

Our worst fears realized. I hope this is resolved quickly and satisfactorily. Thank goodness it was not the original, untouched paintwork of the Bob D.

vwlover77 wrote:Our worst fears realized. I hope this is resolved quickly and satisfactorily. Thank goodness it was not the original, untouched paintwork of the Bob D.

. . . and that car is due a Road Trip. I must say, this newly refreshed awareness of distracted driving is affecting the calculus of Acceptable Risks In The Discharge Of My Profession. Every damn time I see that left rear quarter panel . . . .
Colin

(Jivermo, she was not on the phone. She was just driving down an empty street in the sunshine and smacked into a parked car )

From our local paper, the Los Alamos Monitor:

11:21 a.m. — Police reported that a 57-year-old Woodstock man was the victim of an accident with no injuries at Kiva Street.

"Woodstock Man" - our new nickname for Colin.