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The Collision

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The Collision

It was a raining day of winter, 1999 when I was driving on a wet slippery road of i680 north going to toward work. The sides of the freeway were flooded and too many cars tend to be going the same direction as mine. It was heavy traffic and other driver’s frustration appeared; when they were swerving their cars left and right trying to make their way out of traffic. I had my radio on and the news was about a car accident on San Mateo Bridge, which already started my day off wrong from that moment. As I was counting down the miles toward my destination, driving my car on the carpool lane going 65 miles per hour which was the legal speed limit for the freeway. Cruising on the far left lane, driving a 2005 black Jeep Cherokee that had four large tires which made me higher and oversee the whole view of the freeway. The incident started when I took a quick glance over my right shoulder and saw a blue, shiny-rimmed Toyota Runner, suv spinning out of control. The car instantly took my attention; the car was at the very far right lane so at the moment I did not doubt that the driver was going to make his way towards me immediately. Because it was raining hard and the road was wet which made him to slide all the way to the far left lane. At first he hit the concrete freeway dividers suddenly, I instantly slammed my breaks until I saw smoke coming out from the tires and then blew up. He spun 180 degrees and stopped facing the incoming traffic. I look at my right side and many cars were coming and my left side was the divider of the freeway. I was trying to avoid crashing into him, but I had no other alternatives but to crash with almost half of my speed. After ten minutes all I heard were sirens of fire trucks, ambulances and police cars. Indeed we have caused the freeway to get jammed at 7 in the morning and for the highway patrol to close down two of the four lanes of the freeway. The firemen came running to me and gave me first-aid care while I was bleeding everywhere on my face. Another ten minutes passed by and paramedic guys arrived, they gave me a shot that was for pain that also put me to sleep. Truly I encountered death on that day, but God is great and merciful to keep me alive. I was given a second chance to life as a newborn baby. As I slowly tried to appear back into reality I was opening my eyes gradually and all I could see were nurses running around by my side. One was holding my arm sticking a needle in it and the other was trying to cut open my shirt, while the other nurses was taking my blood pressure and temperature. My ears seemed to not hear for that moment of time. It seemed so unreal like watching a movie and trying to understand the plot. I looked at myself; I was completely drenched with blood as if I showered with red color body wash. As I drifted back into life I was told that I got into fatal car accident. I spent about a week in a small white squared room filled with flowers that I got from family and friends. All I did was watch television, eat daily hospital meals and spend couple hours with my family at the hospital. It was the worst week in my life I have ever experienced. Both my legs were in splint hanging on some type of positioner to elevate my legs and my right arm as well. I had to sleep on my back that didn’t feel comfortable at all as I’m used to sleeping on my stomach. Also the heat from those splints made me feel more irritated. In addition to that, I could not shower for a whole week. I felt so filthy and I stinked like a dead body in the grave. My face was burning because of the shattered glass that flown unto my skin which left me with scares. The pain and irritation I handled throughout this week taught me a valuable life lesson. Caution of safety in the surrounding atmosphere is the most imported tool in life in general. No matter how good and efficient you think you are of doing something. After what happened to me, I started to change my way of driving and be more careful of decisions I make on the freeway while driving or even on city streets. Keeping a far distance between your car and others is a good practice to do and also to keep your speed under the speed limit to be able to stop cautiously in any case. I tended not to take all those things into consideration and not to follow the rules of driving, but I guess it happens to be you have to pay the price the hard way. I don’t think I have ever had my seat belt on. What was I thinking of that day? I was definitely an idiot driving without it. We don’t take a note of our own safety until something crucial occurs.

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