１０月１８日（火曜日）、この日はオリンのPETスキャンやMRIに拠る検査の日。しかも、この日の結果で今後の治療方針が決定される。普段は２５分歩くのだが今回に限り大事をとって、オリンはニューヨーク行きのバス停まで我がホンタを走らせた。ところが小一時間も経った頃に電話が入り、行きがけに大通りを左折した時に追突された、と。（時遅し、、もっと早く知らせてくれれば追突事故ゆえに当然、ポリスに即レポートせざるを得ない）私への連絡が遅くなった理由は、バスに間に合わねばならなかった点、それと、バスの車内でまずはじめに保険会社に車の破損レポートを送るがため、と。
相手は子供を大急ぎ、学校に送る途中の母親、（色々省略）と。なので、ポリスを呼ぶにはバスの時間が間に合わなくなるとの判断で、オリンはこの母親と子供たちを逃してあげた、と。当然、この母親はポリスにレポートを出していない。
一応は、むち打ち症などの検査をせねばならず、オリンの帰宅を待って、夜遅くに近所の総合病院にゆく。今現在は異常なし。
１９日、ニューバーグの警察署に出かけ、全ての証拠と写真を渡しての事情聴取。我がホンタ（このように命名）はいわゆる最低限の保険加入ゆえ一切の修理代がカバーされず、元々が追突事故が発端なので、相手方の保険に委ねるしかない。何日かかるやら。。
オリンは今も変わらず、車社会の批判。ベトナム戦争で亡くなった兵士の数より、１年間の車による事故死は桁違いに多い。とか、癌で死ぬ確率は車の事故より低い、とか。私は、統計というものを字面で語るのは好まない。事故であれ戦争であれ自然死であれ病気であれ、人や生き物への尊厳は、統計で納得させようとするトリックを超えている。
とはいえ、もちろん！腰の置換手術などしなかったら私にも車、は持つ理由もなかったのは事実。
October 18th (Tuesday), was the day of Orin’s PET scan and MRI examination. The results of this day will determine the future treatment policy. He/We usually walk for 25 minutes, but this time, Orin drove our “Honta” to the bus stop for New York City. However, about an hour later, I received a phone call telling me that he had got rear-ended accident while turning left on the main street. (It’s too late, if he let me know earlier, I’ll have to report it to the police immediately) The reason for the delay in contacting me was that he had to be on time for the bus, and that he had to send a damage report to the insurance company first while on the bus.
To make a long story short, the other party were 3, a mother who was in a hurry to send her children to school. So Orin let them escape, deciding that if he called the police, he would miss the bus. Yes, surely, this mother did not submit a report to the police.
Anyway Orin has to be checked for whiplash, etc., so I waited for him to come home and asked him go to a nearby general hospital. He went to the ER late at night. No anomalies since then.
On the 19th, we went to the police station in Newburgh and handed over all the evidence and photographs for questioning. Our “Honta” (named like this) has a minimum insurance coverage, so any repair costs are not covered, and since the accident was originally a rear-end collision, we have no choice but to make a claim to the other party’s insurance. How many days will it take.
Orin is still a criticism of the car society. There are as many car deaths in a year as the total number of soldiers who died in the Vietnam War. Or the odds of dying from cancer are lower than car accidents. I don’t like to put statistics on paper. Whether by accident, war, natural death, or disease, the dignity of people and living things goes beyond the numbers/tricks of statistics to convince them.
But of course! It’s true that if I hadn’t had hip replacement surgery, I wouldn’t have had a reason to own a car.
