Had to wipe "Civic Snot" off my pintle hook this afternoon.
I was headed to the Central Park shopping area down here today and was about 4 car lengths behind a minivan that suddenly locked 'em up because a seagull flew towards it. I hit the brakes hard to avoid rear ending him (found out my 4 wheel ABS works just fine) and some kid in a Civic behind me was either too close or his brakes weren't as good.
Just a little dent above his license plate, and some scraped paint, and a few flecks of his paint on my pintle that I had to wipe off.
The kid wanted to exchange info and I told him sure, no problem. "Let me just get a deputy down here to take the report", while reaching for the walkie-talkie on my belt...
About that time the kid took a better look at the truck and the big "EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS" signs on the side and started having second thoughts... especially when I added that he should get his paperwork out because I'm sure the deputy would be writing him a little "love note" for following too closely. I then proceeded to explain that since I had great insurance, and no damage at all, and had been hit from behind, it didn't really matter to me, but his premiums would probably be going up a bit, what with the moving violation ticket and all...
He then agreed with me that it wouldn't take much to clean up his bumper and fix the scratches, and there really was no need to bother the police with such a trivial little matter.
Driver's "Practical" Edumacation - just one more service us old farts offer.