I’ll say it again….I witnessed a miracle!
I saw the middle stages of a little Ford Focus Hatchback taking a hit, flipping in mid-air, and the aftermath that ensued. As soon as I heard it, I looked out my window in my office because I like to work with the blinds open and sun shining in and I saw metal pieces and tires flying everywhere and a small car flipping once, twice, then landing right side up. It was like watching slow motion video and then stillness. I was scared to death that someone was badly hurt or even dead because there was no movement for a second. I yelled to Justin who was cooking us some gourmet lunch at the time and he yelled “Call 911!” and dashed out the door. While calling 911, I saw movement and a young woman jumped out of the car and ran around to the passenger side….to get her infant child out. The baby was moving and seemed to be fine but in shock and the man in the truck said he was okay but stayed in his truck, probably in shock as well. The 911 operators were great, quickly taking down the info they needed and with a sound in their voice like they were eager to help. It was refreshing considering the stories we have all seen on the news about people at the 911 command having a bad day or lackadaisical attitude that ends up costing valuable time and lives.
Eye Witness
This photo doesn’t give justice to how dramatic the damages were but this is the exact place that every accident has occurred. If you have ever seen a terrible auto accident, you probably react in one of two ways: you panic and stare or you jump into action. I am the first, Justin is the latter. Its lucky that one of us has the courage to run up on a situation that could be quite terrifying and take action to keep more disaster from happening. He is truly a first responder when an accident happens out here in the country and has his EDC (everyday carry) handy to direct traffic and to try to help victims. Walking around the house, he is like a cat with a bell on his collar or a janitor with a million keys on one of those big round metal key rings but his collection of micro survival tools could really save a life one day! I am the designated caller of 911 and panicker (I know that’s not really a word…). He always dashes off like a super hero and immediately checks on the victims then tries to prevent other cars from driving up on the wrecks when they happen and it never ceases to amaze me how brave people can be when the situation calls for it, putting their own lives in danger to come to the rescue of someone in desperate need. It makes me proud to be his wife – he doesn’t think twice about what needs to happen he just goes for it because it is the right thing to do and I think he does that with our business too and that is what has made us so successful.
Witnessing a car accident is a surreal experience and the highway where we live, specifically at a cross road just past our house, is notorious for quite a few pretty bad wrecks due to a blind spot. There is construction to fix that problem right now which has somewhat put my mind at ease until that little reminder today that no amount of road work is going to make drivers pay attention at all times or take that second or third look before pulling out.
One More Miracle Worth Mentioning
We really have witnessed a lot of miracles because we see an unusual amount of wrecks happen right outside our house and a few have looked like it was impossible for someone to walk away alive. One wreck that sticks in my mind happened at 11:03 pm a couple of years back, just as I roped Justin into watching The Bachelorette on Tivo in the dead of night, and I remember the eerie sound of metal explosively crunching, several loud pounding noises and then BOOM – our electricity went out. What made it even scarier is that we didn’t know if there was a vehicle careening into our house with our sweet son sound asleep a few rooms away.
All of the sudden, the noise stopped and we saw headlights shining into our living room and it turns out those pounding noises were the sound of the UPS truck flipping end over end to wind up dangling by its two front tires from the electrical lines directly across from our house. A small car did not see the stop sign on the side road and drove directly in front of the UPS truck going near 60 mph. The UPS driver was thrown into the field across from our house and the young male driver of the small car, struck on the driver’s side with an impact where there were no brakes used before the two vehicles hit, was pinned in by his legs, screaming in pain and for help as we were helpless to get him out. It was a gut wrenching feeling to listen to him cry, plead and moan waiting for the fire department and EMS to arrive and I can relive the moment like it was yesterday. The happy ending: it was truly a miracle that both men walked away alive. The fire department had to cut the small car to get the injured man out and it was a painstaking process that took quite a while.
It’s weird that we do what we do and live at a spot in the road that has so many wrecks – I know there have been at least 4 major wrecks in the 6 years we have been here. I guess we are meant to be here….for now anyways! That injured young man came back a year later to the day with his church group and held a vigil in our front yard. I hugged the stranger when he showed up at our door and told us who he was. I was emotionally invested in what happened that night because witnessing an auto accident is such a scary reminder that life is fragile and it can change in the blink of an eye, a glance down at the radio, a quick look at a text.
Have you witnessed a major accident? Did it change the way you drive or keep you from checking that phone in those tempting moments? I know it has for me!
We help car accident victims all of the time so if you fit this category, ask for our help! We are SUPER good at what we do! 🙂
Jen