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Car Accident
Sep. 4th, 2002 05:07 pmI got home late yesterday, too late to write about how my first day went at Mount Royal. It went spectacularly well - but I can't write about that now. To do so would seem...so anticlimatic, I guess.
Today I was in a car accident.
We got let out early from our lighting lab, so Pat (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
abalorn) offered to drive me, Nick, Steph and Jamie home from school. (They're all other techs.) When I got into the car, we were crunched in so tightly, I didn't bother to do up my seatbelt, since I couldn't reach it without strange contortions. Rest assured, I will never - NEVER - go without a seatbelt again.
We were five minutes from school when the girl ahead of us - driving a great big boat of an SUV - slowed for a passenger. Pat didn't see her slow down. He was following the 2-second rule, but...he wasn't paying attention, I guess. I think sometimes Pat is mildly ADD. I'm not mad at him; Steph is, though.
Pat hit the brakes, but not in time. We left skid marks for about eight feet and SLAMMED into the girl's back end.
BOOM!!
I was reading a newsletter, and didn't even see it coming, but the others say they heard Pat say, "What the-" before we hit.
The impact wasn't like anything I've ever imagined. The noise was incredible - I couldn't hear anything but ringing in my ears as we scrambled from the car. Pat's airbag deployed and burst, sending some sort of smoke pouring through the car. We thought at first the car was on fire.
I was climbing out while I was still processing the thought that went through my head after as we hit: "...I'm dead...."
We just stood by the side of the road shaking. I think the first thing I said was, "I'm okay, I don't think I'm hurt. Are you guys hurt?" and it took me about three seconds after getting out to say that. I guess I just wanted to minimize what happened. Like; this is nothing. No big deal. Small accident. We couldn't have...died.
( Facing my Mortality )
Today I was in a car accident.
We got let out early from our lighting lab, so Pat (
abalorn) offered to drive me, Nick, Steph and Jamie home from school. (They're all other techs.) When I got into the car, we were crunched in so tightly, I didn't bother to do up my seatbelt, since I couldn't reach it without strange contortions. Rest assured, I will never - NEVER - go without a seatbelt again.We were five minutes from school when the girl ahead of us - driving a great big boat of an SUV - slowed for a passenger. Pat didn't see her slow down. He was following the 2-second rule, but...he wasn't paying attention, I guess. I think sometimes Pat is mildly ADD. I'm not mad at him; Steph is, though.
Pat hit the brakes, but not in time. We left skid marks for about eight feet and SLAMMED into the girl's back end.
BOOM!!
I was reading a newsletter, and didn't even see it coming, but the others say they heard Pat say, "What the-" before we hit.
The impact wasn't like anything I've ever imagined. The noise was incredible - I couldn't hear anything but ringing in my ears as we scrambled from the car. Pat's airbag deployed and burst, sending some sort of smoke pouring through the car. We thought at first the car was on fire.
I was climbing out while I was still processing the thought that went through my head after as we hit: "...I'm dead...."
We just stood by the side of the road shaking. I think the first thing I said was, "I'm okay, I don't think I'm hurt. Are you guys hurt?" and it took me about three seconds after getting out to say that. I guess I just wanted to minimize what happened. Like; this is nothing. No big deal. Small accident. We couldn't have...died.
( Facing my Mortality )
