Last night, I had to dash over to a friends house to borrow a book for school. It was very dark and raining, and as I just got my license two weeks ago, I was nervous - kept the radio volume way down, went exactly the speed limit, etc. I got to my friends house without problem, and most of the way home fine.
Coming home, I had to make a left turn (at a light with an arrow) from a local highway onto a different major road. I’ve made this turn several dozen times at least since I first started to drive with my permit. It’s also the frequent site of (usually minor) car accidents.
I stopped at the red light, and was the first car in the turn lane. After a moment, a car (I think an SUV probably, as I recall very high headlights) came up behind me. I hear a ‘bang’ not unlike that of a slamming door, my (my mothers, actually) car lurched forward several feet, and I felt the seatbelt sort of knock the air out of my lungs.
“Oh, sh*t,” I thought as I got a green arrow to turn. “A car just hit me.”
Completely calmly, I made my turn, and immediately turned into the parking lot on the right, immediately after the turn. A car with a smashed front bumper, which I now realize had to have been the car that hit me, drove by without stopping. I put the car in park, turned the break on, killed the engine, and got out. I walked around to the back of the car, and looked at the bumper, which was still very much attached, but badly dented. There were some broken pieces of plastic on it, I flicked them off into a puddle. Assured that there was no major damage to the car, I got back in, started to put my seatbelt back on, and completely broke down.
I was in a very serious car accident about four and a half years ago where my fathers car was broadsided. I was banged up but walked away. The driver of the other car died. I was knocked out, and have only scattered memories of that day. American Pie was playing on the radio. The other car was an old brown one. The EMT who told me that, if I hadn’t been wearing a seatbelt, I would probably be dead, told me his name was Brian. I remember my father going to make a turn; then I was sitting on a curb, with flashing lights all around, and our now-C-shaped car was behind me, on the grass.
This all ran through my mind as I sat in the drivers seat and sobbed hysterically. The back of my mind, the logical part, told me I was hyperventilating and had to calm down. Finally, I forced myself to hold my breath, which allowed me to eventually slow my breathing to something like normal. After a good fifteen, twenty minutes, when my hands were still shaking too badly to start the car, someone tapped on the window. It was a police officer, in uniform, so I opened the door. He asked if I was all right, and I, still through sobs, told him what happened, that the other car hadn’t stopped, and so on.
He asked if I was okay, if my chest and/or neck hurt. Just like that, I felt a sudden rush of sensation: I was cold, my head throbbed, my neck hurt, my chest hurt from the seatbelt. He said that someone had called the police to report the accident, and an ambulance was on the way. I couldn’t handle that and I knew I wasn’t seriously injured. I convinced the EMTs that showed up that I was fine; they had me sign something saying I wouldn’t sue them.
Finally, I drove off, having taken at least an hour to compose myself. I had planned to tell my mother calmly what happened; that plan failed miserably. We both cried - she had called my friend to try and find where I was.
I wish I had properly thanked the police officer who responded, and the EMTs, who were not only patient with my hysterics but actually comforting. I’m incredibly grateful to my teachers, who were more than understanding when I came in late to school, exhausted from nightmares, with a headache and none of my homework. I’m sure that soon, I’ll be starting a pit thread dedicated to whomever hit me, but right now, I’m too grateful to be alive to feel angry.
Had I been at the intersection a second sooner, this may have not happened. Had the car behind me hit the brakes a second later, or been going the tiniest bit faster, my car could have been pushed out into oncoming traffic. Had any number of factors changed in the slightest, none of this could have happened or it could have been infinitely worse. I once walked away from an accident that took a life; I found myself unable to sleep last night, wondering if the other person was okay and then feeling angry - at them, and at myself.
And a plea, to everyone: please, please, wear a seatbelt. Twice now, my life has potentially been saved by that strap of fabric. I’ve got a bruise all across my torso, my hips are sore, I’ve got some sort of ‘fabric burn’ on the side of my neck, and my ribs hurt. However, I have minor injuries, and my windshield does not have a person-sized hole in it. That’s a sacrifice I’m more than willing to make.
