I had something like this happen to me last year. I was originally going to post this story but changed my mind since I knew it was going to be kind of long, but after reading Pink_spyder's story and realizing there was a lot of crossover, I changed my mind. So here goes, you may want to grab a cup of coffee lol.
I witnessed an accident that happened only a couple car lengths ahead of me when I was on my way to work, I work night shift, so this happened around 4pm. I saw a car approaching an intersection that had a stop sign for westbound traffic but not for north/southbound traffic (i was traveling northbound). I only had enough time to think, 'that car is going way too fast and they're not...' when my train of thought was interrupted by watching this car t-bone a truck that was traveling southbound.
This is when my brain went into snapshot mode. I have a vivid image of seeing sunlight hit shattered glass as it flew through the air towards my car. And Ill just say this now that I dont have any formal first aid training beyond being cpr certified.
I was far enough away that I wasnt in any danger and I pulled over and everything was just automatic from this point on. I hit my hazard lights, I looked to see if there were any cars approaching behind me before opening my door and rushing over to help. The impact was so hard that both cars spun like doing donuts and wound up in a nearby field that had some vegetation that was about a foot high.
So as i was walking to the cars im assessing the situation. The truck was closer to me so I went there first. Airbags were deployed so I couldnt see into the vehicle until I was right up on it.
This truck was fucked. It was hit right on the drivers side door and the entire front end was scrunched up. Before I got to the truck, I asked if they were okay (which seemed like a weird question in retrospect). I asked his name and age, I asked if there was anyone else in the vehicle with him, as this was going on, im checking for gas leaks, I told the dude to relax and to try not to move, I remember him saying "what the fuck..." in disbelief. I told him I saw what happened, and the other driver didnt even try to slow down. He looked relatively okay considering the state of the car, so I turned around to go assess the other car.
By this point, a couple other cars had stopped, and I took out my phone to call 911 while I was walking to the other car, but my hands were shaking so bad that it was hard to dial, I wasn't emotional, I just figured that the adrenaline was causing the shaking, and was kind of annoyed by that. I looked up and saw someone on the phone, so I put mine away and made it to the other car.
This car was also fucked. Front and side airbags were deployed so I couldnt see into this one either. When I got to the car, I called out if they were okay. I didnt hear anything at first.
(This next part probably would have seriously fucked me up if things worked out differently.)Before I got to the car, I could hear someone inside who was clearly female, but I dont remember what she said. I got to the driver side and pulled the airbag to the side so I could see in, and I saw a young girl with her legs underneath the steering wheel, her torso had been turned upward and was twisted so that she was looking up and her upper body was laying over the center console with her head on the passenger seat. If I didn't hear her first, I would have thought she was dead from being contorted like that (no seatbelt, obviously).
So while im doing my assesment, I hear a woman approach and say "Im a nurse" to which I responded "Okay." which seems kind of funny now lol. It was like I added the info to my checklist and moved on.
I asked the girl her name, which ironically was Grace, and age, which was 18. She was understandably freaking out, and my job at this point was to try and keep her calm and keep her still. It turns out that she didnt seem to be seriously injured either even though her car was fucked.
She started moving around way too much, looking for her phone. I offered mine, but she didnt know the numbers off hand. The nurse opened the passenger side to look on the floor for the phone, which she quickly found. The nurse then told Grace to get out of the car, and I overruled her and said no, she shouldn't be moved until paramedics arrive. The nurse mentioned something about fire, but I had already checked for gas leaks and figured it was fine, so she listened to me and walked around the car to stand next to me.
So by this point my goal was to continue to distract Grace by trying to keep her calm as much as possible. I remember her saying "I cant believe im alive" and I remember thinking, "yeah me neither..." but I said, "yeah you are alive, and I know ur freaking out but it looks like you and the other guy are going to be fine. So I need you to keep still and try to relax and breathe deeply. I don't want you to injure yourself further." I made her look at me when I said this because she had that whole 'thousand yard stare' thing going on. And it seemed to help.
So I took a moment to stand upright and I knew that how she was sitting in the car, she couldn't see my face, so I took a moment to compose myself because now that things were starting to slow down, shit was starting to hit me. I remember taking a deep breathe and quietly saying wow... to myself.
Even though the nurse was standing right in front of me, I didn't notice she was staring at me when that was going on. She asked if I knew the girl, and I looked at her and said no. She nodded quietly and patted my shoulder (which I later really appreciated). She mouthed the words to me "I found alcohol under the passenger side seat" and I just shook my head in disappointment.
I dont have kids but I was feeling a little paternalistic and thought about getting down on my knees in front of Grace and being like "Well Kiddo, it looks like you've made some bad decisions today..." but it didnt seem the appropriate time lol. I was sure she was going to get it from the cops and her parents.
The police and paramedics arrived and after talking to the cops, and having a funny (in retrospect) but
totally awkward and cringe-worthy moment when I tried to relay the age and gender of the person in the truck to a paramedic that totally ignored me, I figured my job was done, and I went to work without speaking to anyone else.
When I look back on that day, I wonder if I could have done more. I dont know what ended up happening to either parties but I hope they turned out okay, and Grace doesn't make the mistake of being a distracted driver ever again.
I don't know if alcohol played a role, I never saw the bottle myself, and I don't recall smelling any. Judging by how her phone was smashed, I figured she was probably texting, and wasn't aware of the stop sign. But obviously, I don't know for sure.
One year later that intersection now has a 4 way stop sign, the speed limit was reduced from 50mph, to 40mph, and the stop signs have flashing red lights.
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That bit really resonated with me, and was the reason I decided to share my story. So thank you for that, it feels kind of good to put this out there.
