A little back story; I work the overnight shift at a grocery store stocking shelves and the like. After we finished work this morning my friend (who doesn't have a car) asked if I would take him on a beer run. The town we live in is dry, so a beer run entails a about a 10 minute drive back and forth.
So he gives me some money for gas, ( nobody rides for free...) and we head out in the supra. We get the beer and are on our way back to his house doing about 65. It's still dark outside and we're cruising behind a black F-250, just talking about work.
I saw some movement on the other side of the highway and I turned my head in time to see headlights of an oncoming car cross the median, then hit a white cougar that was in the left hand lane at full speed. It bounced off the cougar then richocheted into the F-250.
By this time I was clutched in and braking, heading toward the right side of the highway. We went from 60-0 in about 2.5 seconds it seemed like. I left the car in neutral, pulled the e-brake and set the flashers then got out to see if anybody was still alive.
I went to the cougar first since he was on my side of the road. The whole left 3/4 front of the car was destroyed. I asked if he was awake ( it seemed better than "are you OK?") and he mumbled something at me and looked at me. He was pinned pretty serious though- the A-pillar was almost parallel to the bodyline. My friend was there by this time and he said he would stay with the guy in the cougar. So I ran across the road to the car that had done all the acrobatics.
The other car was a late 80's ford escort. The whole front end of the car was destroyed- both front fenders, the bumper and the hood were just gone. The engine was burning around the timing belt area and the battery was broken in half. When I looked inside the car there was a girl wearing a blue t-shirt and covered in blood laying across the driver and passenger seats. I yelled, "can you move?" and she tried to sit up- but the lap belt was holding her at an awkward position. I reached under her and unbuckled it, (the shoulder belt had separated when its upper mount point broke) and she sat up. That was when I noticed her legs. The femurs were sitting at right angles to each other. I thought holy shit, she has compound fractures in both legs. I started trying to get the driver door open since the car was still on fire, and two other guys that had showed up were pulling with me, but it was jammed shut. Finally somebody showed up with a fire extinguisher and put out the engine. I went and got the flashlight out of the supra and started looking to see if she had any cut or injuries the I couldn't see. Her feet were pinned in between the brake pedal and the left side of the foot box.
The whole time this is going on, traffic is just rolling past. It took the sheriffs about 6 minutes to get there after the call was made, and about 10 or so for the ambulance. The fire dept. took a bit longer. The first paramedic that got to the escort was a friend of mine from college, and he started checking her out- fractures in both legs, head trauma, the works apparently. He started holding her head up straight, (she kept lolling around and laying her head on the steering wheel), and I asked if there was anything I could do. He told me to go to the ambulance and get some gloves on, then hold her head up straight. I did that until the FD had to start cutting her out of the car. Then my friend and I walked back over to the sup. DPS was all over the place now.
We filled out a statement for the main DPS guy since we had been right behind them when the accident happened. They got the girl out fast and they were wheeling the guy out when we finished writing our statements. The DPS officer told us that another driver had chopped the girl off and she had swerved to avoid and crossed the median. The F-250 she bounced off had steered around the cougar was several hundred feet farther down. It had broken the rear axle and crushed the left side of the bed.
Some thoughts;
I need to keep a fire extinguisher and a crowbar in my car along with the other emergency gear. I left my cell phone at my apartment last night so I didn't have it with me. The only reason I wasn't hit was because I was maintaining proper following distance- she would have hit me too if I had been tailgating.
Jesus, what a morning.
So he gives me some money for gas, ( nobody rides for free...) and we head out in the supra. We get the beer and are on our way back to his house doing about 65. It's still dark outside and we're cruising behind a black F-250, just talking about work.
I saw some movement on the other side of the highway and I turned my head in time to see headlights of an oncoming car cross the median, then hit a white cougar that was in the left hand lane at full speed. It bounced off the cougar then richocheted into the F-250.
By this time I was clutched in and braking, heading toward the right side of the highway. We went from 60-0 in about 2.5 seconds it seemed like. I left the car in neutral, pulled the e-brake and set the flashers then got out to see if anybody was still alive.
I went to the cougar first since he was on my side of the road. The whole left 3/4 front of the car was destroyed. I asked if he was awake ( it seemed better than "are you OK?") and he mumbled something at me and looked at me. He was pinned pretty serious though- the A-pillar was almost parallel to the bodyline. My friend was there by this time and he said he would stay with the guy in the cougar. So I ran across the road to the car that had done all the acrobatics.
The other car was a late 80's ford escort. The whole front end of the car was destroyed- both front fenders, the bumper and the hood were just gone. The engine was burning around the timing belt area and the battery was broken in half. When I looked inside the car there was a girl wearing a blue t-shirt and covered in blood laying across the driver and passenger seats. I yelled, "can you move?" and she tried to sit up- but the lap belt was holding her at an awkward position. I reached under her and unbuckled it, (the shoulder belt had separated when its upper mount point broke) and she sat up. That was when I noticed her legs. The femurs were sitting at right angles to each other. I thought holy shit, she has compound fractures in both legs. I started trying to get the driver door open since the car was still on fire, and two other guys that had showed up were pulling with me, but it was jammed shut. Finally somebody showed up with a fire extinguisher and put out the engine. I went and got the flashlight out of the supra and started looking to see if she had any cut or injuries the I couldn't see. Her feet were pinned in between the brake pedal and the left side of the foot box.
The whole time this is going on, traffic is just rolling past. It took the sheriffs about 6 minutes to get there after the call was made, and about 10 or so for the ambulance. The fire dept. took a bit longer. The first paramedic that got to the escort was a friend of mine from college, and he started checking her out- fractures in both legs, head trauma, the works apparently. He started holding her head up straight, (she kept lolling around and laying her head on the steering wheel), and I asked if there was anything I could do. He told me to go to the ambulance and get some gloves on, then hold her head up straight. I did that until the FD had to start cutting her out of the car. Then my friend and I walked back over to the sup. DPS was all over the place now.
We filled out a statement for the main DPS guy since we had been right behind them when the accident happened. They got the girl out fast and they were wheeling the guy out when we finished writing our statements. The DPS officer told us that another driver had chopped the girl off and she had swerved to avoid and crossed the median. The F-250 she bounced off had steered around the cougar was several hundred feet farther down. It had broken the rear axle and crushed the left side of the bed.
Some thoughts;
I need to keep a fire extinguisher and a crowbar in my car along with the other emergency gear. I left my cell phone at my apartment last night so I didn't have it with me. The only reason I wasn't hit was because I was maintaining proper following distance- she would have hit me too if I had been tailgating.
Jesus, what a morning.
