The blinds on Lilly Tomlin's car

I love Short Cuts. I've always been fond of Lilly Tomlin's characters car, with its blinds in the back window (funny stuff). I just watched it again recently and realized that it was probably more than a character quirk. Half an hour in she runs over the little Finnigan boy (casey), in one impressive long take. I always figured because of the lens used and the horizon angle, that the actor was a safe distance away from the car. He likely is, but if you watch the scene again, after the boy is hit, the car shakes a bit before Lilly gets out of the car. Now the blinds serve a greater purpose. They are blocking the fact that a stunt driver is in the drivers seat during the accident while Lilly is likely in the passengers seat. When the car stops, she crawls over the stunt driver and comes out of the car as if she drove it. This might have been obvious to many viewers, but it took a couple of viewing for me to finally get it.