Last Friday evening started out like every other recent Friday evening. Jen takes A2 to dance and then A1 and I meet them for dinner. Then we all go to A1's Little League baseball practice. I leave practice a little early so that I can get home, change clothes, and then leave for work. On this night, I was driving down the main drag doing my usual speed, somewhere around 35 mph (battery power of course), as I was approaching the freeway. When out of nowhere I was slammed into by another vehicle. The collision was almost head on. I did not have time to react, swerve, or even apply the brakes.
All of the sudden, the airbag punched me in the chest as the car slammed to a stop. If you have not had the airbag experience, let me tell you, it gets your attention. I imagine it is like being a quarterback and being blindsided by Ray Lewis. Or like being an office worker in any of the Terry Tate office linebacker videos (http://bit.ly/bFkK3d). It is a very jarring experience. It is better than hitting the steering wheel or windshield, but still rather shocking. While the airbag powder was still in the air, I managed to open the driver's side door about 12 inches (all it would open) and walk over to the other vehicle. The driver had opened their door and was hysterical. A witness and I got her out of the vehicle and helped her to walk across the roadway and to sit down and wait for medical personnel. The driver stated that she thought that the turn was protected during a green light. When in fact, the turn is only protected with an arrow which she did not have. Both of our lights were green and she failed to yield the right of way when turning left. Local police and ambulance services showed up about three minutes later. The other driver was loaded into an ambulance and transported to a local hospital. She were complaining of back and neck pain. I was checked out on the scene by the ambulance attendants. I decided to stay on the scene and not get checked out in an emergency room. The investigating officer was very friendly and stated that this type of accident occurs at this location frequently. I recognized one of the ambulance driver's from work. His regular job is with HFD and we have spoken on many scenes at work. They all offered me a ride home, but I had called my cousin and asked him to come and get me. I did not want Jen to have to load up the kids and bring them to an accident scene. My cousin arrived as the wrecker was picking up the Camry. We transferred all of my stuff into his car and he drove me home. I notified my insurance company of the accident that evening. The other driver had valid insurance with a discount insurance provider. I have gotten the claim number and adjusters name from her insurance company, but so far the adjuster has not returned my calls. I will find out tomorrow from my insurance company if my car is a total loss. I do not think that it is, but I imagine that hybrids are very expensive to fix. In the mean time, I am driving around in a rented Ford Flex. It looks like a boxy bread truck. There is a surprising amount of room inside and A1 really likes it. I am still very sore and my chest has some bruising, but overall I am doing fine. It had been a long time since I had been in an accident and had just received a safe driving certificate at work. I am thankful that I was by myself and I hope that it is a long time before I get hit by an airbag again.
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