Personal Experience: A Car Accident Kills Your Spirit!

Have you ever been in a car accident? Have you witnessed one? Have you ever been affected by one? It’s a daily struggle for every human being.

I’m one person that’s always good on the road. I think for the next driver. I keep my distance from the car in front of me. I stick to speed limits most of the times. I don’t drink alcohol, I don’t drive recklessly and I value my life. But what happened to me on Tuesday night made me realise that, you can be the best driver but if something is meant to happen, it will happen. Let me tell you about my experience. Get something to drink because it’s gonna be a long one.

So I had just been to a parents’ evening at my daughter’s school to collect her report. Meeting started at 5:30pm and we were done by 6:30pm. I sat in the car waiting for the lady I was travelling with who has a daughter that’s friends with my daughter and they go to the same school. After 10mins of waiting, she calls me and tells me to leave because she was gonna delay with the teachers. Because it was now dark, I left. My daughter is in the car with me.

We have 2 routes to use from her school and we usually communicate and decide which route to use at that particular time. So I asked her to choose, and she said ‘Let’s use the freeway mummy because it’s now late and the freeway is faster.’ (she knows I don’t like driving at night). So freeway it is.

On our way to join the freeway, there’s a gas station on our right, and there’s a traffic light. I slow down even though it’s green for us. I usually don’t go full speed because I know some go through red robot. Anyway, all of a sudden the road clears in front of me. Not even one car going the opposite direction. Weird because this is a very busy road. There was only 1 car behind me. Suddenly I see this 4×4 coming from my right. I’m looking at it and I’m assuming this person wants to join our route and he will stop to give us way, but NO! The car comes, passes the first road, goes over the pavement that separates the two roads and lands on us.

I froze in the car for some time. I couldn’t move or say a word. I then asked my daughter if she’s ok and she said yes. I looked up at this car and there was no one in the driver’s seat. Car has tinted windows so I couldn’t really see properly. But there was no driver. I thought is this person dead? Did they get out of the car and run? Were they thrown out of the car or what? All this is happening and I’m still sitting in my car.

I pulled myself together and had to get out of the car through the passenger side because my side was busted. I helped my daughter out. Then this guy comes running from the gas station screaming. I asked him;  ‘Is this your car? What’s going on?‘ He admits it’s his car and says  ‘It’s the f*ckn handbrake. The automatic release.‘ When he said handbrake that’s when I lost it. I used every swear word that came to mind, I shouted at him, I cried, I screamed ‘You almost killed my child because of your negligence‘ All my shouting was about my child because I could still hear her scream in my head during the accident. This man then tells me ‘My kids are also in the car.‘ I lost it even more; I told him I didn’t give a sh*t about his kids because he’s the reckless one, not me. I’m concerned about my child because I’m not in the wrong. I looked in the back seat and I saw there were 3 kids in his car. So we have 4 young lives almost cut short because of an irresponsible adult? This man was putting fuel, then got out of the car to go talk to some people in another car, a few minutes later his car started driving itself and came for us.

Fast forward, it sinks in that the worst could have happened. My daughter and I are fine so that’s all that matters. And then you have the paramedics and those vultures from tow trucks all over you. This was my first serious accident and I hope it’s the last one because I don’t want to go through that again.

When I say car accidents kill your spirit, I mean it. I’ve been a zombi lately. I find myself crying. I hug my daughter more than before. I feel helpless because no child should go through that trauma. Every time I look at her, I hear that scream of hers. I thank God that I was not speeding. Also had it not been for that middle pavement that separates the roads, things could have been worse. The pavement helped and slowed that car’s speed. What if the robot was red and cars were stationary? This car was gonna crash into us. The whole 4×4.

I think of that man’s children. If another car especially a truck could have been driving through at that time when the car was crossing the other side of the road those kids could have died. Only because of an irresponsible adult. The next day I spoke to the man and I apologised for being insensitive around his kids at the time. I felt bad, but luckily he understood where I was coming from. Now I’m left with the emotional scars. The sound of the crash. My daughter’s scream. The vision of the car coming towards us. I go to bed and that’s all on my mind.

I know a lot of people that have been involved in worse accidents. Most of them were not in the wrong. There is always that one reckless person that messes up everybody’s lives. So now we must not just focus on the cars on the road. We must be on the look out for parked cars at the gas stations that might roll on to us. What kind of life is this?

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Once again, I’m thankful to God that no one was hurt. It’s a blessing! My family and friends have been with me through it. Checking up on me 24/7. I’m thankful.

Let’s be safe on the roads guys. Have a good weekend.