A few months ago my wife and I were in a pretty severe car accident. We were traveling in our Ford Focus down a busy, two lane country highway, at 85km/hr (53mi/ hour). An 18 year old in a car similar to ours was stopped at a stop sign on the opposite end of the highway.
Since this was a busy highway, with traffic going both ways, my guess is that he was sitting there for quite some time waiting for an opening in traffic that would allow them to cross the busy street.
Growing impatient he saw a minor opening between the cars and decided to take it as an opportunity to cross.
Seeing his car pop in front of us at the last minute, my wife threw on the breaks. We nonetheless T-boned the front passenger side of his vehicle at nearly full speed.
Luckily he was the only driver.
There was no time to brace ourselves, which was probably a good thing. I’ve heard that injuries are often sustained because people tend to tense up before an impact. I remember feeling the sudden jolt of the collision in my chest and ears. It felt like a cannon firing next to me. I assume it was from the airbags going off.
Our car came to a stop in the middle of the cross street.
“Are you ok?” My wifes voice came through.
“Yeah I’m good. You?”
“I’m alright.”
The inside of the car was filled with smoke and powder residue from the air bags. It was like someone set off a fire extinguisher in the confined space. I inhaled powder that left a burnt chemical aftertaste in the back of my throat.
Coughing, I went for the door and had to shove it with my shoulder to get it open.
I met my wife on the side of the road where witnesses had started to gather. My wife tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to her engagement ring.
The diamond was missing.
The impact from the air bag bent one of the prongs and sent the stone flying to god knows where. I immediately went back to the car and searched inside and out to no avail. A woman’s voice was coming through the speakers which was at first very confusing. I guess many cars nowadays automatically call 911 when the air bags are deployed. She was asking me all sorts of questions that were interrupting me from finding my wife’s diamond.
I never did find it. Maybe one day someone will come across it on the side of the road?
Cops arrived at the scene and began asking questions. I was surprised at how little I knew about what happened. Luckily witnesses saw the whole thing and gave an accurate description of what went down.
The other driver was taken by ambulance to the hospital though witnesses said he was fine. We think that he was probably embarrassed or afraid by his mistake and decided it was easier to go to the hospital then interact with us, the police or his parents who were on their way.
A few days later we got a police report in the mail. The driver stated he was travelling through the intersection at 5km/hr which is basically the average human walking speed. He didn’t know what he was talking about I guess because he was ultimately suggesting that he was travelling at walking speed through a busy intersection with cars coming in both directions. Lol.
Ultimately, other than a few bruises and some stiff muscles, no one was hurt in the accident. However, the car was a right off and we had 2 weeks to buy another one through the other drivers insurance. Their insurance also replaced the engagement ring. Luckily no one was hurt and everything worked out well.
