Yesterday afternoon, as I was pulling out of the parking lot at the Ohlone-Chenowyth lightrail station, I accidentally bumped into the car in front of me. I thought my foot was on the brake, but I must not have been pressing it down all the way because I looked left to check the oncoming traffic and BAM the whole car shakes.
So the girl in the car in front of me pulls over, and I follow. She's young - maybe eighteen or nineteen - and probably a student at San Jose State, like me. Since my car was moving at a maximum of five miles an hour - or whatever speed cars move at when you haven't got your foot on the gas - there wasn't really any damage. Maybe some minor scratches. But I felt really bad about the whole thing. We exchanged phone numbers and she said she'd call if there were any problems, and I haven't heard from her so I that's a good thing.
But I still feel bad about it.
I've actually been pretty lucky in terms of car incidents. I had a major accident a couple of months after I got my license (and got all emo about it, according to LJ), but the woman I hit was nice about it and the insurance settled everything. The second time a car quit on me, it erupted into smoke and flames...but I was unhurt, and a kindhearted Samaritan stopped to check on me. Since then, I haven't had any major problems. The last incident was nearly identical to this one; preoccupied thinking about a midterm, I tapped the car in front of me as I was waiting to turn right. That woman (with her kid in the backseat) was pretty laid back; she took my number and told me she'd call after talking to her husband, and I never heard from her again.
Let's hope this came be just like last time.