sodalite, use the photo as a demo if you wish - I nag about seat belts myself. But Tony had just cleared his belt because he was almost on-scene, and wanted to be out of the car ASAP since they were afraid there was a kid in the house. (Turns out - no fire, no kid. Which was good.) Thing is, given how much damage there was to the roof of the car above the drivers seat, a seat belt might, in this one small case, have caused a worse outcome. I don’t know…
As for the penalty for the other driver, I just looked it up: Up to 12 months/$1000 fine, and 3 points on his license. And really, I expected to see that the other driver was a kid who panicked due to lack of driving experience, or an elderly driver. He wasn’t. He was 30 - old enough to have plenty of experience. Young enough that his age shouldn’t have been a factor at all. I don’t think that the penalty is severe enough, but that’s what it is…
Holy goodness, how terrifying. My husband is in the military–seeing uniforms walk up to your door is The Biggest Fear. I would have fainted. Good on you for holding up in the face of immense stress, travel times, fear, etc.
Don’t forget to look after yourself! You won’t be any good to anyone if you make yourself sick. Be sure to keep eating, drinking water (not just caffeine!), and sleeping occasionally! You guys will get through this.
Good advice, apollonia. I’m trying to take care of myself - took the night off last night, but the baby was sick, plus I’m too amped to sleep. My mother-in-law will be back today, so that helps.
I’m very glad, too, that the outcome wasn’t much worse. When I’m Queen of the World, drivers like that one will not ever get behind the wheel of a car again - he’s forfeited his privilege to drive in my perfect world. :mad:
Amen, Cat Whisperer. Horrible footnote: while I was being driven the 60 or so miles from my home to the hospital, the deputy was running with lights while we were on the interstate. People just would. Not. Move. Over. David would turn on the siren then, and still no getting over. He’d add that other noisy “woop woop” sound, and still nothing. I asked if there was a flamethrower button on the console, because I’d gladly have manned that for him.
We are now at the portion of the festivities where I’m really pissed at the trauma chief, who seems to think that a dismissive handwave will take care of some really painful bits in Tony’s shoulder. I’ve already gone off on an ER nurse who got snippy with me about a simple and commonsense request. I don’t want to do that again, but I will if I have to.
Let 'em have it. The squeaky wheel, etc. Tony’s lucky to have you there to run interference for him. People who are sick or injured often don’t have the energy to stand up for themselves to officious medical staff.
We are a firefighter family. I’m so glad your SO is doing well.
My life revolves around the news, at times. If something BAD happens, I’m the last to know.
The vultures on channel whatever care nothing about the families of the rescurers. They want the STORY no matter how it effects us.
That’d wake them up! :eek: I’ve seen this while driving, too - clueless, unaware people just toodling down the road, completely oblivious to the emergency vehicle that is trying to go make a bad situation less bad for someone (or even worse than being oblivious, not caring or not knowing what to do about it).
