Sunday, December 20, 2009

Crunch

Here's what it looks like when you don't see the other guy coming:



There was none of that "everything slows down" - it was over in an instant, before I realized what was happening it was over. It looked *exactly* like it would on one of those NASCAR in car cameras.

Aside from probably two totaled cars everyone is fine.

A short list of things I am thankful for:

  • that it didn't happen less than a half second earlier - which would have been his right front and my driver door as opposed to my left front and his passenger rear panel.
  • that everyone in both cars was strapped in properly.
  • that we weren't in the truck, which being maybe three times heavier and much higher would have meant much more damage to the other car.
  • that everyone remained calm
  • that the tow truck guys were cool
  • that the Pittsburgh Police were extremely cool
  • that the insurance people were cool
Take a moment to think about how life can change completely in an instant. That's where my head is tonight.

2 comments:

Walt said...

Yeah, David, I've been there. A year ago the rest of the family was T-boned - car rolled 1 + 1/4 times. Only scratches. But the driver door was pushed in about 3 inches - on the inside.

What I want to know is, what kind of car did you hit that totally missed the hood? That pristine hood hanging there is an interesting counterpoint to what is below.

David said...

We really just glanced each other and we kinda bounced off. It was weird getting out of the car because it looked like only minor damage and then I got around the front. All the energy wound up going perpendicular to the long axis of the car, basically sheared the front off in front of the hood without even crumpling the hood.