Well, they were right. It only took six days after that for me to eat my words.
I had just left my parent's house on Saturday night and was headed to Ryan's for dinner. I decided it would be quicker for me to jump on the freeway and take the I-215 interchange rather than all the slower moving back roads. So I got on the freeway at 90th South. I merged into the slow lane and then was trying to merge into the middle lane when chaos ensued.
I glanced behind me to the left to check my blind spot and then looked forward again only to notice the big white van in front of me had hit their brakes. I didn't have enough time to stop and I didn't really want to crash into the back of them so I instinctively tried to swerve out of the way to avoid a collision. Upon doing so, I apparently jerked the steering wheel a bit too hard and I lost control. The car started to swerve back and forth for a few feet (just long enough to get around the van and another car to my left) and I attempted to slam on the brakes thinking that would somehow stop me. But little did I know that once a car is out of control, brakes do nothing to help. After one or two seconds of swerving I started spinning out of control. I didn't count the number of 360's I did, but it had to have been at least five.
I kept my eyes open the entire time and just watched the entire scene unfold around me. The interesting thing is, I didn't pay one ounce of attention to any of the other cars on the road. I had no idea where they were in relation to me, even though I did see blurry bits of them as I was spinning around and around. After about the third spin I offered a quick silent prayer, "Please just keep me safe." I knew I could do nothing to stop the car at that point and I just didn't want to be badly hurt. Shortly thereafter I could literally feel my car slowing as it continued to spin and everything felt like it was going in slow motion. At one point I thought my car was going to stop while I was facing the opposite direction of traffic but then it kept going and I thought "oh good. Just stop in the direction of traffic so I can just continue on my way." But before my car could make it all the way around, "WACK!" I hit something.
Instantly my car came to a dead stop and I was thrown backward into my seat. Once I gathered my senses I looked around me and realized I was now facing west on the northbound freeway sitting smack dab in the slow lane of traffic. I looked to my left and saw a bunch of cars attempting to move around me, and then I looked to my right and saw a white SUV off on the shoulder of the road. It was then that I realized I had hit another car. At the time of impact, I hadn't known for sure what I had hit since I had hit it from behind. I thought I had hit the cement barrier on the shoulder of the road but apparently I was wrong.
Upon coming out of my stupified daze, I reached for my phone and dialed 911. I didn't even have the sense to check on the person in the other vehicle. I knew I was okay and she appeared to be okay so I just called for help. While on the phone with dispatch a young man walked up and knocked on my window asking if I would like him to push me out of the lane of traffic. I said yes, not even thinking at the time that he had to walk out into high speed traffic to do so. He couldn't turn my car so he just pushed me backwards as far as he could. My front bumper continued to sit in the lane just slightly and cars had to cautiously move around me. The guy left after that and I never even got to thank him for risking his life to try and save mine. I did try to start my car so I could move it, but I couldn't get it to start. It must have been in as much shock as me!
The 911 dispatcher eventually connected me to the Utah Highway Patrol and so a UHP dispatcher got on the phone with me. He took my information then told me to find a safe place to wait for a trooper to get there. I wasn't quite sure where there would be a safe place to wait on the side of a fast moving freeway. I asked him if I should stay in my car and he said, "If you feel that is the safest place for you to be, then go ahead and stay there. Just be sure to put on your hazard lights and your seat belt." Oh fabulous...so he was basically telling me to prepare to get hit. How comforting. After that I did get out of my car for a brief second but it was so noisy and cold and I was more scared of being out of my car than in it, so I got back in.
The first call I made after 911 was to my mom. She asked me where I was and told me that she and my dad would come find me. Then instantly I realized something. I hadn't called Ryan! I said to my mom, "Wait! I need to call Ryan!" She sounded surprised that I hadn't called him yet and told me to call him. I guess my instincts just took over in that moment. For the past 34 years I have called my parents for everything. It didn't dawn on me that I have someone else to call now! I'm lucky he wasn't too broken up over the fact that I called him second. :)
It took about 5-10 minutes after hanging up with dispatch for the trooper to arrive and he quickly assessed the situation and had me move my car. By then it started right up so he stopped traffic in the slow lane and had me pull out and straighten my car on the shoulder of the road. Once that happened, traffic began moving at a normal pace. He checked on the other lady and then came back to give me paperwork to fill out. As I was getting started on it, Ryan came and jumped in my passenger seat! It was such a relief to see him! It took about 10 minutes to fill out the paperwork and then he issued me my citation and told me I was free to go. Since all the damage to my car was in the rear and I still had one working tail light, the trooper let me go ahead and drive my car home, with Ryan following close behind. I was glad I didn't have to call a tow truck.
When I told the trooper what happened, he seemed as shocked as I did that I had walked away from that without injuries. I look back and think about how much worse it could have been. I could have hit any number of cars as I was spinning out of control but I only hit one. And, I had somehow managed to slow down considerably before hitting her that the damage to both cars wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. I have thought about how things might have turned out had I just hit the white van in front of me instead of swerving out of the way. Everything could have played out so differently, for better or worse. There is no way of knowing that for sure. All I do know is that for how bad it could have been, it turned out pretty good. I consider that to be a miracle.
And now if anyone asks if I've ever gotten a ticket*, I'll have a good story to tell!
My poor car...
*My family was specifically talking about speeding tickets when I mentioned I had never had one. The ticket I got after this accident still wasn't a speeding ticket so I can technically say I have not yet had a speeding ticket. But I have now had some kind of ticket.
3 comments:
What an insane experience! I'm glad you're ok!
My oh my.....that is super crazy! I am super glad that you are okay!
I always have some story that is so similiar to yours. I hydroplaned once and did like 3 360's. Hit the cement median and then ended up facing oncoming traffic and another car hit me. So i know how terrifing it can be. I am glad you are ok too and also consider it a miracle. And also super impressed that you had never had a ticket before. Good job.
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