Buckle Up

Technically, Beth and I were part of a car accident this morning. In reality, we were the third car in a two-car collision. But one of the cars was a pickup truck with a toolbox in the bed. When it got hit the toolbox went flying, hit the pavement, cracked open and sent a variety of different sized wrenches and sockets skittering in our direction, several of which may have bounced into our front wheels and bumper. So really, in every sense but the police report, we were not actually in the accident.

We were at an intersection, waiting in the left-turn lane for the light to change. The way the light cycle goes, all the cross-street traffic has a green light, then the cars on the left get a red light so the cars on the right can turn left towards Beth and I, and then the light changes and we get our green light. Well, the light went red for the cars coming from the left and the cars from the right, where there are two left turn lanes, got their green turn arrow. Beth and I always pay attention to this because it’s a really long light but this means that it’s almost our turn. Anyway, a Subaru coming from the left never stopped. Maybe it never even hit the brakes, because the first sign of danger from my perspective wasn’t skidding or screeching tires but a loud crunch. Then my attention was on the debris coming our way, so by the time I looked at the cars themselves they were totally stopped and it was almost like we had happened upon an accident that had already occurred, not like one took place right in front of us.

Anyway, it feels strange that my first reaction wasn’t to check on the drivers but to clear enough space for other cars to get by. I guess I looked at the two drivers in their cars and saw that they were looking around and didn’t seem to be in agony, but I did a 10 second sweep of the lane before it even occurred to me that I should worry about the drivers first. By that time, the driver of the truck (who got hit) was getting out of his vehicle, apparently unhurt. I walked over to the Subaru, where another passer-by was talking to the driver and opened the passenger door to ask if she was okay, which she was, although she was badly shaken. Then the driver of the pickup and I cleared more of his things from the road while Beth called 911 and pulled our car across the intersection to park it as far out of the way as possible. I was only thinking of us as witnesses until the 911 dispatcher told Beth that since our car was hit by debris we were involved in the accident and should stick around.

I waited in our car with Beth until a police officer arrived. It took twenty minutes, which seemed pretty ridiculous for an accident at a busy intersection near downtown right at the beginning of rush hour. At that point Beth and I walked back over, spoke briefly to the officer to tell him why we were even there, and then waited while he rechecked the two drivers. And then waited while he was on the radio. And then waited while he started his paperwork. And waited. And waited. Not very pleasant in 8 degree weather, although it’s been below zero almost every other day for the past couple of weeks. Finally a second officer arrived and eventually he made his way over to us, got our contact information, asked a couple of questions and told us we could go.

So that’s the story of my commute this morning, but here are some random thoughts that go along with it:

• We were driving because Beth was up most of the night last night for work, communicating with a drilling team on the North Slope that’s putting in a new well.
  
• The driver of the pickup was remarkably nice for having been put in such an unpleasant situation. After the initial shock and surprise, during which he may have asked me why I didn’t stop, he was most interested in making sure the other driver was okay and thanking Beth and I for our help.
  
• I’m really glad nobody was seriously hurt, and it’s almost completely for a whole host of selfish reasons, and that makes me feel bad.
  
• I wonder if daylight savings time could be partly to blame for this. When the accident happened the sky was just beginning to pick up shades of blue, but it was definitely still dark out. An hour later it was full daylight and visibility was obviously much better.
  
• Actually, the driver of the Subaru probably needed something other than better lighting. It’s not like she didn’t see a moose at the side of the road until it darted out at the last second. She missed 3-4 stoplights at that one intersection and two lines of cars, that’s 4 lines of headlights, turning in front of her.
  
• No airbags went off. I’m not surprised about the truck since it was hit in the rear wheel and the main impact went into the bed, not the cab. But the Subaru hit the truck head on and had pretty serious damage to its front end. Maybe because the back of the truck was lighter the Subaru was partly spared by spinning the truck? Maybe the driver of the Subaru had disabled her airbags, since she appeared to have a pretty small stature? Maybe she hit the brakes enough that she had already slowed down more than it appeared before she hit the truck?
  
• The police officer wanted to know if Beth and I were wearing seatbelts when the ratchet wrench socket hit our bumper as we travelled at zero miles per hour. We were.
  
• 4 people, 4 seatbelts, zero injuries. Even if you take Beth and I out of that equation, 2-2-0 are pretty good numbers. Buckle up!