"I saw a very bright light at the back of my eyes. And even before I can see where it was coming from, I heard a big bang. Suddenly my world spinned very fast. A big delivery truck hit us. Thankfully we survived."
Who would have guessed that an accident will occur just after we left the house? Certaintly not me. Not us. It was 9 o'clock in the morning and still the road was dead. No cars around, and you can even count the number of people in the street by the fingers of your hand. It was an empty day.
But as we drove past the 2nd street, moving toward the intersection at a speed not greater than 45kph, we were hit by a big delivery truck. The collision was so huge, our car was thrown a meter away and was made to rotate 45 degrees. The truck's bumper was almost dismantled and our Volkswagen UP left doors were totally crashed it is impossible to open them anymore.
And what started to be an empty road was now full of bystanders. The car accident had caught the attention of the neighborhood. It had also started to cause a small traffic because of cars trying to see the stars of the show.
I was still in the driver's seat. I knew I was alright, but I was afraid to move. When you just experienced a life death accident, I guess you just get scared easily. At that time I feared to feel my bones exploding. It was silly, I know.
An old man from the neighborhood approached me. He was speaking in their native Brazilian language. I just nodded and smile. Even though I can't speak their language, I understood he was asking if I was fine. His face showed concern.
After gaining some confidence, I went out of the car. There I saw the damages caused by the collision. The bumper of the delivery truck almost fell off. While the left doors of our car were totally crashed it's impossible to open it anymore. Based on what I saw, I knew that the collision was really strong. Afterall, it is not my first time to be in a car accident. Way back in my home country, we were also hit by a truck while on a highway. The truck didn't receive any damage despite our Honda Mobilio getting a huge dent on the right side bumper and driver's door. So you see, trucks are way sturdy. And if they did receive some damage, it was because the impact was strong.
The next minutes were quite chaotic. The police arrived. Given that we didn't receive any serious injury, we stayed in the place of accident to give our testimonials. We told the police that we just left the house and were driving at a speed not greater than 45kph. At the 2nd intersection, we were hit by a truck coming fast our left side. The truck was supposed to stop to let us pass as we were in the priority lane. But as it was accelerating fast (it was a downhill), it was already too late when they saw us.
There was no CCTV in that intersection. I guess that encouraged the truck driver to give a false testimonial that would spare him from any responsibility. I find this, until now, extremely disgusting specially when he reeked alcohol while he was telling the lie. Obviously, the policemen sided with us with a support from a witness that saw the accident.
"How we survived was a miracle for both of us."
Neither of us received a serious injury. The Volkswagen Up is a very reliable and sturdy car, not to mention that its engine is really good and economical. If we were riding a different compact car, we would have been seriously injured and I will not be writing this article. And though we were greatly inconvenienced by not having a car for 5months (thanks to the very bad service of the workshop and the insurance which I will share in detail on the next article), we are still grateful for being alive.
