Sitting at red light
Advancing forward at green
Lady ran red light
Sitting on sidewalk
Still rolling, hit brakes, stop
I’m ok, mostly
Climb, passenger door
Exit, shaking, shaking, breathe
Walking and talking
A blip on bumper
of SUV, a ding, dent
She thought she had green
Thank you, gratitude
“Could’ve been worse” – Damn, I know
Glad to walk away
So that happened Thursday on my way home from work. I was three blocks from home.
I was able to slowly drive the car to a parking lot by my apartment, something dragging on the road on the way. A cop followed me to make sure I made it Ok.
The accident pushed me off the road. This is where I ended up, plus or minus the few feet I rolled because my foot got knocked off the brake. I realized that I needed to hit the brake again to stop.
I’m so glad there was no pedestrian there. A thought that didn’t occur to me until now.
Once I got stopped I felt the tears forming. A few of them fell. I wiped my eyes and did an assessment of how I was.
I was covered in glass from my driver’s side window. Soda was all over me. It basically exploded from the impact. Tomatoes and lettuce were scattered around. My tacos experienced injuries and were partially scattered in the front seat. Very soon after I stopped someone handed me my sunglasses. They had been knocked off my head and somehow landed outside of the car. A witness asked if I’d called the police yet. At that point, I hadn’t found my phone. It had been knocked to the floor. I tried the door, but it wouldn’t budge. I decided I didn’t want to be in the car anymore, and I climbed across the passenger seat to get out.
I walked around the car and surveyed the damage. Driver’s side mirror knocked completely off the car and was laying in the street. Driver’s side window was completely gone: shattered. The door, well, you can see that in the picture.
I called my insurance company to potentially get a tow truck. They asked really stupid questions after I gave them my policy number.
“What’s your address?”
“What’s your phone number?”
I JUST GAVE YOU MY POLICY NUMBER! YOU TELL ME MY #*@#$%^*& ADDRESS!!! >:( (<<I didn’t say this to the person, but I was thinking it. I was a little snarky at certain points in the conversation, but not so bad considering the circumstances.)
I ended up opting out of the tow truck at that time, because I didn’t know where to have them tow it to.
Another lady’s truck got hit too. The very front. Loosened the bumper and pulled her husband’s golf vanity plate off.
The paramedics asked me if I wanted to go to the hospital. Considering I climbed across the passenger seat to get out, and I didn’t seem to be anything but sore, I said no. They took my blood pressure anyway. It must not have been too high, because they didn’t say anything. I found a laceration underneath my left arm, and they gave me a band-aid.
The lady who caused the accident stayed in her car. Probably smarter that way.
I stayed outside, giving asinine information to my insurance company and later talking to the other victim of the accident. The police seemed to take forever with the paperwork.
Eventually I made it home. I called the insurance company again and gave them the information of all of the other parties. They called a tow truck. They set up a rental for me to pick up the next day.
Once I got home I posted the accident to Instagram and Facebook. Concern came pouring in.
The comments that were most helpful were the ones where people offered to help or seemed to reach out emotionally:
- “Oh god.”
- “Ibuprofen now before you really need it. Glad you survived.”
- “Yikes! I hope you are doing ok”
- “Glad you are okay! Do you need anything?”
- “So sorry this happened! Happy you’re safe.”
- “Oh my god! Let me know if you need anything at all please!”
- “So glad you’re ok. Accidents are so scary.”
I found that one thing that irked me that some said was “It could’ve been worse.” It was Ok if I said it, but it seemed dismissive when someone else did. Though I know they meant well.
I found out Friday my car was totaled.
Now my main concern is getting enough from the insurance company to put down a sizeable-enough down payment so that I can afford the payment for a new-to-me car. I need something reliable, considering my commute is 25 miles, so a cheapy car ain’t gonna cut it.
If you are interested in helping me with the money part of things, I would greatly appreciate you buying a piece of art or something else from my Living Daringly shop.
If you want to help out more generically, I can take PayPal payments at christy@livingdaringly.com. If you make a donation, I will send you a small, original piece of art (likely a doodle or sketch) in thanks.
If you are able to help out or if you are interested in purchasing my art, my heart goes out to you.