My wife and me. New Tesla Model Y. Lake Elmo, Minnesota. May 26, 2026. Photo by Fritz Hasler.
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May 9th 2026 was our grandson’s graduation day at UW Madison, and I had my first intersection accident in 70 years of driving.
For those of you who read my previous article leading into this one: Yes, I was driving my 2019 Tesla Model 3 using Full Self Driving V12 like always. If I had just let it drive, I wouldn’t have had the accident. However, I didn’t watch carefully for cross traffic and pushed the accelerator to hurry through the intersection. It was my fault! I had the stop sign, the woman who hit me did not. However, almost all intersection accidents happen when both parties do something wrong. I postulate that she was texting all the way into the back of my car. A slight turn of the steering wheel and she would have missed me. It was a fairly close call for our insurance company, but they totaled the car.
We evaluated all of our options and decided to go with a new Tesla Model Y, standard dark grey with rear-wheel drive. It was the least expensive option, which can be purchased for ~$40,000 with zero % financing for 6 years. We are living in our summer home in northern Wisconsin where the dealer association has managed to keep Tesla from delivering cars anywhere in the state.
