I got a rude surprise on my way home from work last night when somebody decided to make a U-turn across my lane. I made a valiant attempt to avoid a collision, but I wasn’t completely successful. I did manage to minimize the impact, though. The left side of my truck collided with the right side of a Toyota Sequoia SUV.

As you can see, the major impact was on the left front fender. It ripped off my mirror, leaving a big black streak on the window. The bed side is also dented in a few places, especially behind the rear wheel (hard to see in this picture). Something also bent my ham radio antenna. Perhaps the other truck’s mirror. I don’t think I decelerated fast enough for the antenna to have bent on its own.

Neither I nor the driver of the other vehicle (its only occupant) was injured. We got lucky and drove away (after exchanging information, of course) fully intact, with just a bit of bent sheet metal to show for it. I’m now in the process of determining how much it will cost to fix the truck, and hoping that the insurance company doesn’t decide to write it off as a “total loss.” We’ll see how that works out.

I’m fine. No injuries. Not even the soreness I expected as a result of the unexpected impact.

One thing: anti-lock brakes are a Godsend. When I saw that truck coming across my lane, I applied the brakes as hard as I could. The ABS did what it was supposed to do: prevented me from going into a skid. As a result, I was able to maneuver the truck and prevent what could have been a very nasty crash. As annoying as the ABS can be from time to time, I don’t think I’ll buy another vehicle without it.