[Katie Reynolds]

Don't feel too bad, Dori!

The first time I ever drove was with my dad ... he took me to a parking lot of an abandoned store. There were big light poles and I, um, was kind of headed right towards one. Luckily, I stopped *just* before hitting it, but I realized that I, somehow, had my foot on both the gas and the break. My said, "lift your foot off of the gas and step on the brake." I guess I wasn't qucik enough, because my car idled right into the pole! We never had the damage assessed, but the fron of my car still has that nice dent - I'll post a picture later!

As far as a "real" accident, I was rear-ended this past June. I was stopped at a stoplight and I looked at my rearview mirror and saw a car that didn't look like it planned on stopping. It hit me going about 45-50 mph. Apparently her "brakes locked up" because of the wet roads. Her car wound up going under mine, knocking off the entire exhaust system and shattering the back bumper. The other car was totaled. She got a ticket for wreckless driving and a wrecked car -- I got a new bumper, exhaust system (which actually needed to be replaced anyway, 'cause it was old and falling apart) and some back problems to go along with all of it. Mostly whiplash in my back (but none in my neck, surprisingly) but I still have some lingering back pain. Ick.