I've been driving for 34 years, and I've never been in a car accident. Yes, someone in a grocery store parking lot in 1990 cut across parking spaces and dinged the front of our Firebird, and yes, someone backed into our car in Germany when they didn't look behind them, but a full-on, scary, I-could've-died accident? No. In fact, I've always worried what it would be like, and now I know.
Rebecca and I were headed to Blocks via Chick-Fil-A so that she could pick up some cute succulents as gifts to take home with her. Anytime we go into Detroit now, we take M-14 east to 275 South to 94 west. 275 South is known as Southfield Freeway around here, and unbeknownst to me (who doesn't drive it daily like John does), the speed limit drops from 70 (which means 79 to Michiganders) to 55 pretty quickly. So we were cruising along. Traffic was heavy like always, but everyone was going 80. I was in the middle lane of three. Suddenly, the truck in front of me slowed down and completely stopped. I always watch ahead to see how traffic is moving because I never trust the person directly in front of me (versus John who watches only the tail lights of the person in front of him....and sometimes not even that ;-)) and I hadn't seen anything. It was a quick stop for me, and thankfully I stopped with probably six inches to spare.
In the next 2-3 seconds, here's what happened:
Rebecca and I both looked in our rearview mirrors. There was a truck barreling towards us, but it veered quickly to the left. We could then see that there was a car directly behind the truck (she was probably tailgating the truck), and we knew she wasn't going to stop.
Rebecca screamed in anticipation and grabbed the door and the middle console.
I thought to myself "here we go" and grabbed the steering wheel, bracing for impact.
Sure enough, after hearing squealing brakes, she slammed into the back of Greenie. I had kept my foot on the brake so we were barely pushed into the pickup truck in front of me.
I kind of sat there in disbelief--it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be--but Rebecca immediately turned to me and asked me if I was all right.
Here's the crazy thing. I didn't feel a bit of fear or worry or nervousness or anything. I just felt completely calm. There we are, crunched in between the car that had hit us, and the truck in front of us, and I wasn't even shaking.
I asked Rebecca what we should do--should I call USAA or the police first?--and she thought the police. So I dialed 9-1-1, again not feeling worried at all. Wow. Those people on the phone are so professional, asking me just the right questions, and reminding me that I shouldn't get out of the car. Thankfully, I had the presence of mind to tell them exactly where it had happened (we were headed south on Southfield, and we were near Ford Road). I found out later that the other two people hadn't called the police at all. How crazy is that?
We were a bit worried that we might get hit again, seeing as we were sitting in the middle lane of a highway, but not more than five minutes had passed when a police car pulled up. Turns out, he wasn't the state police that we had been connected with, but he just happened to be driving by. Super nice guy. He told us to try and pull over to the right, onto the shoulder, when the traffic was clear. Thankfully, all of us still had cars that were drivable.
I expected the worst for Greenie. Being hit at 60+ mph, I suspected his rear end was totaled, and when I saw the front end of the car that had hit us, uh yeah. Greenie was toast. But unbelievably, Greenie looked like he just came out of the car wash ;-).
I felt so badly for the woman driving the car. She got out of the car, and she was visibly shaken, on the verge of tears, and just apologizing up and down for what had happened. If it wasn't the time of COVID, I think both Rebecca and I would've given her a hug.
There was a passenger in the other car that required some attention from the ambulance, but in the end, we all walked away from it. The guy, Ryan, who was driving the truck, looked much like we felt: can we just leave already? We sat there for almost a full hour while the state police showed up, took statements, reviewed our paperwork, and worked mostly with the offending driver.
I will say something about the policemen. I have had the worst experiences with policemen in the past, and I really kind of hate how mean they are, but these three men were so professional and kind. It felt like our well-being was at the top of their lists which was really kind of them.
After the hour, we were free to go, and we drove away. We tried to go to Chick-fil-A but Rebecca counted 100+ cars in line, so we opted for the 5-cars-in-line Taco Bell. The stress kind of hit me then, but it wasn't anything that couldn't be solved with a Diet Pepsi and a chicken chalupa ;-)
Since then, I have had numerous people comment on the miraculous fact that we weren't hurt at all, and I've started really thinking about it. Just before we left, we fed the babies lunch, and I said a prayer with them that included "please protect our family today". Seeing our car, I can't deny that we were indeed protected, or when I think of the fact that we could've taken the convertible? Yeah, God was with us that day. God and Greenie.
Rebecca and I spent a good while trying to guess the driver's name. As Rebecca said, he was her "kind of people". She guessed Brandon, Derrick or Jake. I went up and asked him--it was Ryan--but he told me that he has cousins named Brandon and Jake ;-)
Rebecca and I were headed to Blocks via Chick-Fil-A so that she could pick up some cute succulents as gifts to take home with her. Anytime we go into Detroit now, we take M-14 east to 275 South to 94 west. 275 South is known as Southfield Freeway around here, and unbeknownst to me (who doesn't drive it daily like John does), the speed limit drops from 70 (which means 79 to Michiganders) to 55 pretty quickly. So we were cruising along. Traffic was heavy like always, but everyone was going 80. I was in the middle lane of three. Suddenly, the truck in front of me slowed down and completely stopped. I always watch ahead to see how traffic is moving because I never trust the person directly in front of me (versus John who watches only the tail lights of the person in front of him....and sometimes not even that ;-)) and I hadn't seen anything. It was a quick stop for me, and thankfully I stopped with probably six inches to spare.
In the next 2-3 seconds, here's what happened:
Rebecca and I both looked in our rearview mirrors. There was a truck barreling towards us, but it veered quickly to the left. We could then see that there was a car directly behind the truck (she was probably tailgating the truck), and we knew she wasn't going to stop.
Rebecca screamed in anticipation and grabbed the door and the middle console.
I thought to myself "here we go" and grabbed the steering wheel, bracing for impact.
Sure enough, after hearing squealing brakes, she slammed into the back of Greenie. I had kept my foot on the brake so we were barely pushed into the pickup truck in front of me.
I kind of sat there in disbelief--it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be--but Rebecca immediately turned to me and asked me if I was all right.
Here's the crazy thing. I didn't feel a bit of fear or worry or nervousness or anything. I just felt completely calm. There we are, crunched in between the car that had hit us, and the truck in front of us, and I wasn't even shaking.
I asked Rebecca what we should do--should I call USAA or the police first?--and she thought the police. So I dialed 9-1-1, again not feeling worried at all. Wow. Those people on the phone are so professional, asking me just the right questions, and reminding me that I shouldn't get out of the car. Thankfully, I had the presence of mind to tell them exactly where it had happened (we were headed south on Southfield, and we were near Ford Road). I found out later that the other two people hadn't called the police at all. How crazy is that?
We were a bit worried that we might get hit again, seeing as we were sitting in the middle lane of a highway, but not more than five minutes had passed when a police car pulled up. Turns out, he wasn't the state police that we had been connected with, but he just happened to be driving by. Super nice guy. He told us to try and pull over to the right, onto the shoulder, when the traffic was clear. Thankfully, all of us still had cars that were drivable.
I expected the worst for Greenie. Being hit at 60+ mph, I suspected his rear end was totaled, and when I saw the front end of the car that had hit us, uh yeah. Greenie was toast. But unbelievably, Greenie looked like he just came out of the car wash ;-).
I felt so badly for the woman driving the car. She got out of the car, and she was visibly shaken, on the verge of tears, and just apologizing up and down for what had happened. If it wasn't the time of COVID, I think both Rebecca and I would've given her a hug.
There was a passenger in the other car that required some attention from the ambulance, but in the end, we all walked away from it. The guy, Ryan, who was driving the truck, looked much like we felt: can we just leave already? We sat there for almost a full hour while the state police showed up, took statements, reviewed our paperwork, and worked mostly with the offending driver.
 |
| Her car was towed away. |
I will say something about the policemen. I have had the worst experiences with policemen in the past, and I really kind of hate how mean they are, but these three men were so professional and kind. It felt like our well-being was at the top of their lists which was really kind of them.
After the hour, we were free to go, and we drove away. We tried to go to Chick-fil-A but Rebecca counted 100+ cars in line, so we opted for the 5-cars-in-line Taco Bell. The stress kind of hit me then, but it wasn't anything that couldn't be solved with a Diet Pepsi and a chicken chalupa ;-)
Since then, I have had numerous people comment on the miraculous fact that we weren't hurt at all, and I've started really thinking about it. Just before we left, we fed the babies lunch, and I said a prayer with them that included "please protect our family today". Seeing our car, I can't deny that we were indeed protected, or when I think of the fact that we could've taken the convertible? Yeah, God was with us that day. God and Greenie.
Rebecca and I spent a good while trying to guess the driver's name. As Rebecca said, he was her "kind of people". She guessed Brandon, Derrick or Jake. I went up and asked him--it was Ryan--but he told me that he has cousins named Brandon and Jake ;-) |
| Nothing happened to his truck. Absolutely nothing. |
 |
| The front end got a big dinged, including my German license plate :-( |
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