Monday, September 12, 2005

My Poor Car

WE ARE OKAY!!!!!!!!!!

Anne and I were in the car, minding our own business(es), on our way to the base to mail a package, stop at the bank and get more juice for Anne. A school bus going the opposite direction turned left in front of me, and I slowed my car, as I thought the bus had rather pushed its luck, turning in front of me. The bus turned into the side street, and what do I see in front of me but a car that followed right behind it!!!!!! It was right in front of me!!!!!!!!!! I slammed on the brakes, and Anne says I planted my hand on the horn and kept it there---I had no idea, and actually didn't think I had thought to honk the horn. Despite my best efforts at braking, and the luck of having been going below the speed limit (45 mph) because of the bus, I hit the car. The whole front of my car is sadly crunched. We are kind of afraid that the insurance company will total it. The air bags didn't do their thing---we are glad of that, as we both would probably have been hurt by them, being of small stature. As always (thank heavens) we both had our seat belts on. The police (each at different times) asked if we had them on, then looked at the car and said, of course you did, you would have gone through the windshield if you hadn't.

Anne and I are fine. I am more fine than Anne is. She is very sore, and had a lot of pain in one leg and in her shoulders immediately. For that reason, they got an ambulance out and did the whole nine yards of fun with her---neck brace, back board, trip to the ER, etc. Our little gal had 6 fire rescue/EMT's around her, getting her strapped onto the board, etc. They were all great, I take my hat off to them. At the ER, they did Xrays of her neck to make sure it was safe to remove her from the backboard, then took her off for more Xrays. All is fine. They put her in a sling for the one shoulder, gave her muscle relaxants and ibuprofin, and we will see how it goes. We figure she is going to be one sore little gal tomorrow. I imagine I will be pretty sore too. I am just a little sore now, I think I have a tiny bit of whip lash, and I have a little scratch-like mark below the collar bone, we figure from the seat belt.

One of the highlights and "thank heavens" moments, was that a lady police officer was in her car right there at that intersection (on the street the bus and car turned into), and saw the whole thing. She was at my car immediately to check on us, called the police and EMT's, called AAA for me (to tow the car)......she was wonderful. I had very little to tell the police, she stepped right up and told the ones who responded exactly what had happened. I could not possibly have asked for a better witness.

I don't know if my car is going to survive or not. He is badly wounded, and I will be sad to see him go if he doesn't make it. He is a Honda Accord, and I have not had any trouble with him at all in the 7 years I have had him. I was expecting to have him a lot longer. Oh well. I guess the plus side is that I will be thrilled if he makes it, and if he doesn't, I will get a new Honda, so it is almost a win-win situation.

We all feel that we have had more than enough on our plates right now, and really did not need this at all. Especially poor Anne. However, we feel really lucky that we were not badly hurt. I guess it will be interesting to see how they do things here---it is a no fault state. I think the kid I hit got a ticket. The police officer who saw the accident made no bones about it, that he was at fault. He came over later and apologized. I thought it was nice of him--some people wouldn't have bothered. Just a young guy, in a parent's car. Just one of those things, not being cautious enough. So, until we can work out something else, I will be taking Mike to work. Of course, this week he is to have the beeper, yet another thing we don't really need. I think he might try to get one of the other guys to take it. I guess once the car has been inspected, we will quickly find out what the decision is. I would imagine that if they deem it fixable, it will take a while. The whole front is badly crunched, the bumper was pushed down and back, so it was both touching the ground, and hitting the tires. The fire guys took off the bumper, and one of them backed the car into the side street so they could clear the lane. When the accident happened, I pulled as close to the curb as I could and put my hazzard lights on.

Well, I am tired and don't have the heart to write any more right now. I hope tomorrow will be a better day!!

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