The Cool House: So glad to be alive

Friday, June 06, 2008

So glad to be alive

We got hit by a truck last weekend.
OK, breathe. We're still here; the car, however, is totaled. We were lucky to have side impact bags and a car with enough steel to stop the hook on the front of the truck coming through the driver's door. If it had been my Jeep or the "caprice" I don't think I'd be writing this. We were actually dragged by the wingnuts on the front wheel of the truck. The impact buckled the frame and smashed the glass and cracked the windshield. We were doing maybe 5mph. We are very lucky.
There are no photos because I really didn't think of it until afterwards. A long time afterwards, after the police report had been taken, the EMS had left and the car had been towed.
I've never understood the benefit of those automatic emergency service phones in cars before but the second the airbag went off a voice was asking if we were alright and they phoned the Police and alerted a tow truck. They stayed on the line to speak to the Police and I didn't realise they were still on the line until half an hour or so later when they interrupted us to give us the ETA of the tow truck.
By the way, the accident happened right outside the drive, and the sound of the impact had neighbors running. Guess who arrived first? An attorney, an insurance agent and an off-duty police officer. The perfect trifecta.

9 comments:

Ethan@OneProjectCloser said...

That's scary. Glad your doing OK. This kinda makes wonder how my car (98 saturn) would do in a crash. I get the feeling most of my car is plastic...

Anonymous said...

Thank goodness you are all safe. It's a reminder of how quickly things happen. Take care!

Jen said...

I am so glad you are ok.

Corey said...

Glad to hear you are safe and sound.

Jean Martha said...

OMG. So glad you're both ok. Shaken...but not stirred. Take it easy, have lots of hugs...and buy yourself something utterly ridiculous "just cause".

modernemama said...

Thanks y'all.
I'm feeling much more like myself so I had a celebration day yesterday.
Upstate, I had exactly the same thought...many things and a martini were bought.

Jennifer said...

So glad you are OK!!! How scary.

Linda Merrill said...

Jane! So sorry to hear about your accident and so glad you're ok! You're right to keep in mind that the most important thing is that you're all ok!

Anonymous said...

Wow, glad you guys are fine. That emergency phone service sounds very important. I'll definitely look into this if and when we visit the US.