car "accident"

why do people call them "accidents" anyway? usually the crash is due to someone being careless.

last week, hubby & i were minding our own business in our SUV, stopped at a stop light behind a line of other cars. then, CRUNCH. an old rusted car slammed into the back of our car - we estimate he was going 30mph. no warning, no screeching brakes, just a hard hit.

hubby checks to see if i'm okay, then gets out to talk to the guy, telling him we are going to call the police. through the back window, i could see steam rising from the hood of his vehicle. hubby snaps a bunch of pictures then gets back into our car & tells me that the guy "preferred if we didn't call the police." hmm. i'm pretty shaken up, trying not to cry, while fumbling with my phone to call 911. the operator answers and i explain the situation & our location.

we move out of the way of traffic and make sure the guy follows us into a parking lot as we wait. then he approaches our car and is fumbling with his pockets....and we wonder for a split second, does he have a weapon? so hubby tells him to go back to his car & wait for the police (a couple of times). so he does...and then he starts driving away!!!

back on the phone with the operator, we follow him for a bit, give the operator all of the info we can, then pull over and wait for the police. they also send an ambulance because at this point, my neck is hurting pretty good along with hubby's back.

the ambulance arrives in 2 minutes and they check hubby & i out....then put a neck collar on me, slide me onto a board, & whisk me away. the paramedic told me it may seem like overkill, but better to be safe than sorry when possible neck injuries are involved. so i went on my first ambulance ride. when we arrived at the hospital, i was taken to a room...i felt like i was on grey's anatomy or something. so weird. the doc had me get a couple of x-rays and everything was okay.

hubby & my parents met us there and hubby got checked out & was okay too. the doc said we would feel like we had played rugby for a couple of days. a week later, i'm not quite normal, but much much better. i'm amazed that i was that sore.

as for the other driver, the police caught up with him & he was arrested for a number of charges. he had filed a false report saying that someone had stolen his car - fortunately, the pictures taken at the scene proved otherwise. his criminal past is quite lengthy and includes a number of things, including a DUI & assault convictions.

i know things could be so much worse right now. i'm so thankful that we are okay, that we were in a big car, that our pups weren't in the car with us, that our insurance is handling everything, that my family came to the hospital to make sure we were okay. i keep replaying the whole thing over & over in my head. i'm jumpy when i'm driving, but also much more aware of my surroundings.

be careful out there...