Thoughts

Accidents

The other day, my best friend and I were driving to her house, since I had to go to band after dropping her off. I was driving my car, and we came to a stop sign with two cars ahead of us.

I have no idea what happened next. All I know is that the second car ahead of us pulled into the 45mph intersection (we'll call it car 1), just as a car going 45 went through (we'll call it car 2).

I yelled "HOLY SHIT" and of course, got out of the car and ran to the crash. Everyone had gotten out, they were all okay. I noticed that the air bags had been deployed. The man in the car ahead of us called 911, and I had it dialled already.

Only then did I realise that the driver of the car that had hit the other was a girl at my school, in my grade. She was crying, shaking, looking at the damage. Naturally, I asked profusely if she was alright. The passenger of the car, a boy I didn't recognise, had a large abrasion over his outer forearm. Being the overbearing daughter of a nurse I am, I offered first aid services (meaning putting neosporin and gauze over it), but the boy said he was fine.

My friend called me over and I went back to my car. We called our parents, told them what happened, told my dad to call my band director.

The cops were there soon after. They went through the whole procedure of an accident, one that I am familiar with. The ambulance and fire truck came and took all 3 of the people in the accident into the ambulance, probably to check for shock and concussions.

While the man in the car in front of us helped load the cars to be towed, I went to the cops and told them that I had witnessed the accident.

Only then did I think of what I initially saw in my response and I realised that car 2 had t-boned car 1, and then rotated clockwise around that focal point as car 1 slid into a parallel position to where we were.

If there had been the slightest more impact, the slightest angle difference, had the car pulled out a millisecond give or take, a car could have flipped.

My friend and I were in an awkward spot on the shoulder of the road, so we couldn't get around the emergency vehicles to save our lives, so we ended up waiting for about 30 minutes until the scene was all clear.

The rest of the night I was trembling. I told all my friends, being the drama queen I am, simply because I was genuinely traumatised. I never thought I would say this, but I feel like being a first hand witness to a car accident (not a little fender-bender) is pretty traumatising.

Think about it. A car hits another, and you're right there. The people in the car, for all you know, could be helpless, and it's all on you to carry out the correct procedure to keep them as safe as possible. Maybe it's the thought that right before you, you could have witnessed death (morbid, sorry). Maybe it's knowing that a millisecond could have made it better or made it worse.

This is going to sound like I'm a pretentious, superstitious loser, but the other day, after school, I saw the girl in car 1 in the parking lot. She was driving the car that is now totalled, just as a car backed out and ever so lightly hit one driving behind it. I heard the girl (car 1) yell, just as I did "HOLY SHIT". Just a coincidence, but still it remains in my head.

It wasn't even that big of a deal. In hindsight, the accident wasn't even that bad. Everyone was okay.

I just can't get the sound of the cars crashing out of my head.

As for band rehearsal, I was an hour late.