Car Accident
Sep. 4th, 2002 05:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beandelphikiI 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.
I was in shock. I kept thinking about the fact that I wasn't wearing a seatbelt. The others, I suppose, can say that if they were hurt none of it was their fault (as far as I know the others had seatbelts on - maybe Jamie didn't), but I had to deal with the fact that if I had died, it would have been my fault. Entirely my stupid, STUPID fault.
Had we been going any faster, I would have flown through the windshield, and that would have been the end of me. Kapoof, no more Danny.
When we went around front and looked at the front of Pat's car was when we all started to really shake. We could all joke and say, "Whoo!" - but not when we saw the front. Pat's car is totaled. His hood is folded like an accordion. It's pouring fluid. There's debris strewn for several feet, everything under the hood looks smunched, parts are hanging out on springs....
Steph started crying.
Thank god the girl we hit was so kind. She made sure we all had rides, she checked we were okay, she exchanged phone numbers, etc with Pat...then she drove off with a dent in her bumper. I'm getting a boat like that, I'll tell ya.
I called my dad for rides for me and Steph. If I'd had to, I could have taken the bus, but...I just didn't want to be alone.
I told everyone to see a doctor in the next few days, but even as I said it, I kept thinking it couldn't apply to me. I couldn't have whiplash, or anything serious. I couldn't. Stuff like that just doesn't HAPPEN to me.
I'm a cat. I ALWAYS land on my feet. That's my life. I couldn't be hurt.
I was just going to shake this off, like I shake off everything. Stuff just rolls off me, and this time would be no different.
It's not rolling off. I could have damn well DIED. And it would have been my fault. My arrogance, because nothing happens to me. I almost started crying too, in the ride home, because my dad said with my position and lack of good seatbelt (I told him it was reaaally loose) I'm sure to have whiplash.
I almost cried because I wanted it to be over, be gone. I wanted to be the way I always am, unflappable. I hate loosing my center like this. I just keeping feeling the impact, smelling the smoke, hearing the ringing in my ears. In the ride home, I flinched every time someone merged in front of us.
I can't even remember the last time I was really afraid of something. I don't get scared of things. I just don't. I get nervous...but when it comes to physical things, I'm not afraid of anything. It's new, and I hate it.
I think I lost one of my nine lives today.
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.
I was in shock. I kept thinking about the fact that I wasn't wearing a seatbelt. The others, I suppose, can say that if they were hurt none of it was their fault (as far as I know the others had seatbelts on - maybe Jamie didn't), but I had to deal with the fact that if I had died, it would have been my fault. Entirely my stupid, STUPID fault.
Had we been going any faster, I would have flown through the windshield, and that would have been the end of me. Kapoof, no more Danny.
When we went around front and looked at the front of Pat's car was when we all started to really shake. We could all joke and say, "Whoo!" - but not when we saw the front. Pat's car is totaled. His hood is folded like an accordion. It's pouring fluid. There's debris strewn for several feet, everything under the hood looks smunched, parts are hanging out on springs....
Steph started crying.
Thank god the girl we hit was so kind. She made sure we all had rides, she checked we were okay, she exchanged phone numbers, etc with Pat...then she drove off with a dent in her bumper. I'm getting a boat like that, I'll tell ya.
I called my dad for rides for me and Steph. If I'd had to, I could have taken the bus, but...I just didn't want to be alone.
I told everyone to see a doctor in the next few days, but even as I said it, I kept thinking it couldn't apply to me. I couldn't have whiplash, or anything serious. I couldn't. Stuff like that just doesn't HAPPEN to me.
I'm a cat. I ALWAYS land on my feet. That's my life. I couldn't be hurt.
I was just going to shake this off, like I shake off everything. Stuff just rolls off me, and this time would be no different.
It's not rolling off. I could have damn well DIED. And it would have been my fault. My arrogance, because nothing happens to me. I almost started crying too, in the ride home, because my dad said with my position and lack of good seatbelt (I told him it was reaaally loose) I'm sure to have whiplash.
I almost cried because I wanted it to be over, be gone. I wanted to be the way I always am, unflappable. I hate loosing my center like this. I just keeping feeling the impact, smelling the smoke, hearing the ringing in my ears. In the ride home, I flinched every time someone merged in front of us.
I can't even remember the last time I was really afraid of something. I don't get scared of things. I just don't. I get nervous...but when it comes to physical things, I'm not afraid of anything. It's new, and I hate it.
I think I lost one of my nine lives today.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2002-09-04 04:15 pm (UTC)-Aerin-
(no subject)
Date: 2002-09-04 04:16 pm (UTC)*picks up the phone*
(no subject)
Date: 2002-09-04 04:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2002-09-04 04:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2002-09-04 05:31 pm (UTC)i know how u feel tho.. with th whole "i'm invincible" crap..
i just haven't been hurt yet.. n' yada yada
(no subject)
Date: 2002-09-04 05:49 pm (UTC)I had to knock my door with my shoulder to get out, and when I did, I got to see the engine and all the other goodies under there from the sidewalk. My hood was accordioned, too. The scariest thing though was that my sis had just had jaw surgery a couple weeks before, and she wasn't wearing her seatbelt because she was trying to fix her shoe. Well, when we hit the van, her face hit the seat. She was crying hysterically, and I was crying hysterically. I don't usually cry that much. Especially in front of people, but I missed that guy's funeral because I was trying so hard to not be late, and my sis got hurt. Scary shit. I had nightmares when I slept in class about that accident.
I know how you feel. You just learned a lesson though, don't forget to wear your seatbelt. Everything that we go through in life teaches us something that we can use later. There was one of your's.
(no subject)
Date: 2002-09-04 06:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2002-09-04 06:46 pm (UTC)I'm seriously glad you are not hurt at all *hugs*
(no subject)
Date: 2002-09-04 07:20 pm (UTC)NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! Don't scare me like that dammit!
I'm a cat. I ALWAYS land on my feet. That's my life. I couldn't be hurt.
I used to think like that. Then I realised I was being an idiot. Okay, I figured that out after I lost something really really important to me but same difference.
I was in a car accident once. My brother was driving, I was reading a cell phone manual. Suddenly I heard this screech of tires and looked up just in time to see us impale into the back of another car. Just before impact this thought went through my mind: "I'm going to die. This is it, it's over. I've no more chances and I'm going to die." I know I take alot of risks and that's probably where that sprouted from but... Well, obviously, I didn't die, he didn't die, and no one was hurt. Except the car of course which was COMPLETELY totaled, leaking antifreeze and oil, the entire front smashed in. Oddly, I found the entire experience didn't faze me much. I just thought, "Well, now I've been in a car crash, how interesting." There's my screwed up mind for you.
I'm glad you are okay, very glad. *hugs*
(no subject)
Date: 2002-09-04 07:21 pm (UTC)Glad you're okay. ::squeeze::
(no subject)
Date: 2002-09-04 08:31 pm (UTC)I am SO glad none of you were hurt!!!
My sister and I were in an accident June of last year. Like you, we were'nt hurt...but that does'nt make it any less scary! It was'nt my fault, we were hit by another car on the passenger side going about 40 or 45. We had our seat belts on.
I'll tell you one thing, like you already said, everytime you get back into a car for a while, you'll probably be paranoid as hell...I was!
It's such a reality check, too. Our immortality usually does'nt seem to cross our minds that much, at least not until something like this happens...
I AM SO RELIEVED THAT YOU'RE OK!!!!!!!
-heather
(no subject)
Date: 2002-09-04 09:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2002-09-04 11:29 pm (UTC)oh!!
Date: 2002-09-05 01:05 am (UTC)glad you're still with us.
eeesch!
Date: 2002-09-05 06:29 am (UTC)*hugs*
(no subject)
Date: 2002-09-05 07:44 pm (UTC)My mom was in a car accident two years ago, sitting in the backseat... she didn't have her seatbelt on because they had only pulled onto the road two minutes earlier. She ended up with a broken hip, and my uncle's car was totalled. (My uncles in front had their belts on, and were okay.) We don't move the car anymore until everyone is buckled in!
It's an easy mistake to make, though... I think we all get complacent about the road after a while, not actually realizing how fast those little tin boxes on wheels are going.
I hope you feel better and a little less shaken.