Entry #610132, added on 09-30-08 @ 9:26 am EDT
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| The Accident or the Intersection | Entry #610132 |
My 18-year-old daughter, Fallon, got her driver's license yesterday. Why did it take so long? She hadn't been that interested in driving to begin wtih but decided to get her permit when she was seventeen. A week later, she was driving and we were rear-ended. It was minor... the guy had been tailgating her for half a mile and when she pulled into the yield land and waited for traffic, he slowed down but bumped us at about 10 mph. He thought she wasn't pulling out into traffic quick enough and tried to go around us. The first bump scared her; when she jumped, she took her foot off the brake and the car moved up a fot or two. Then he turned the wheel and tried to go around us, hitting us again!
Even though it wasn't her fault and there was nothing she could have done to avoid it, Fallon was scared to drive again. It was four months before she was ready to try again, and then she was skittish and frightened. She regained some confidence but was still overly cautious when she finally went to get her license. They failed her the first time, saying she never checked her mirrors, never checked her blind spots or used a turn signal, and passed stop signs, stopping in the intersection instead of stopping at the sign, then pulling up to make a secondary stop where she could see. Fallon was insistent she hadn't done those things and I believe her. She hadn't driven that way any time I was with her, and as careful as she was when she was driving, I couldn't see her doing any of those things.
She went a couple weeks later and they failed her again. This time they said she didn't stay in her lane, drove down the middle of the road in subdivisions, went too far to the left when passing parked vehicles, tailgated other drivers, got too close to other cars at stop lights, and couldn't back in a straight line. Again, Fallon was insistent she hadn't done those things. She never drove like that with me. I could see that she possibly swung to the left around parked cars, but that was because she was afraid of hitting them, and if you're in a place where you can see if something is coming, even I tend to go out around them rather than passing them as close as possible without trading paint.
Yesterday she took the test again and this time they passed her by one point. Whew! They still said she didn't stop at stop signs, never looked over her shoulder when she was backing up, drove too fast entering and leaving the parking lot, and a few other things. I know she didn't pull in or out of the lot too quickly. There's a rounded curb up to the lot, not a smooth entry way. Pulling out or in too quickly would make the car bottom out, and I watched as she left and came back and she was going as slow as she could to be sure that didn't happen. Whatever...
There was line out the door for the DMV next door to the testing location so we took her papers and headed to the less-crowded DMV nearer our home. Fifteen minutes later we were stopped at a light and CRUNCH! Our little Saturn was hit by an enormous Lincoln Navigator going about 35 mph! Fallon and I were thrown forward and nearly hit the windshield. I hit my head on the rearview mirror and my arms skidded across the dash. Fallon was screaming hysterically and the lady in the Navigator was slumped behind the wheel. I didn't even think about being injured; I got out and went to check on the lady. At the same time, she came to and pressed the gas petal and pushed our car about two feet. People were flying past us and no one even stopped to say anything. I called 911 and they said if no one was injured to move the cars out of traffic, so we did. Fallon got in the back because she was in no condition to drive. It was easier to get her to the back than around the other side to the passenger seat. I made sure the lady behind is was going to be able to move her vehicle and we waited for the light and pulled into the gas station across the street.
I called my husband and only then did I realize where we were: the corner of Mexico and Jungerman... the same intersection my brother had been killed at 16 years ago. I felt myself going into shock; I was freezing, shaking uncontrollably, and my head was spinning. The ambulance came and they took Fallon on a backboard and let me ride in the front so they didn't have to charge us for two transports. Tim got to the hospital before they did the x-rays. They prescribed muscle relaxants and pain killers. We stopped to see the other lady as we left several hours later. They were doing blood work, an MRI, and several other tests trying to determine why she blacked out at the wheel. She was worried about us and kept apologizing. Poor dear; she couldn't even remember the accident.
Even now, I don't know which hurt more: the accident, or the intersection it occurred at. I felt my heart break again; I knew the pain would never go away, but I didn't think it would hurt this bad. It will be 17 years in May and I miss him every day.
I think it was the intersection... It hurt more because of the intersection.
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