The light turned green, there wasn't any oncoming traffic so Fred started out to make his left turn. Just as he got into the intersection, he caught a movement in the corner of his eye...a big SUV was coming fast on the cross street to his left. He saw the SUV driver's astonished face. Who had apparently forgotten that "Red means stop" or had stepped out of his mind for a second...in any case, he was doing the 45 mph speed limit and was micro-seconds from impact. Fred later told me that the only thought he had at that point was that this was gonna be BAD. And it was. Fred's trusty Taurus took it on the rear of the left front fender, just under the door post.
The SUV driver was immediately all over the place seeking forgiveness, promising to pay for everything, assuring Fred he was going to take care of EVERYTHING. And so far, he has. So...no harm, no foul. Except an 86 year old man had to spend the next week in the hospital with 7 broken ribs, a punctured and bruised lung, a dislocated shoulder and broken shoulder blade. Did you know they don't even put a cast on a cracked scapula? "Just try not to move it around for the next 8 weeks or so."
The accident was a couple weeks ago and he is still on O2 until his lung capacity is 100% again. The pain is slowly receeding and Fred is shopping for a replacement car. I tried to talk him into a '06 GTO but he is too gas-price conscious. I asked him to consider what shape he would be in if he had been in some little hybrid. That caused him to pause, but not enough to buy the Goat.
There are a lot of left turn accidents here in the Swirling Epicenter, seems that Colorful State drivers can't quit get the hang of it. When I was out in a truck every day, there wasn't a day went by when some silly wouldn't turn in front of me. It is usually the turner's fault (unlike by pal, Fred). I have driven all over the world and have never seen a place like this, it seems to be a point of pride to see how close you can cut it. Left turns and stop lights. The local joke is: "How can you tell which car is the Texan?...He's the fourth one through the intersection after the light turns red". Locals here in the Swirl don't like Texans or Californians very much.
I was just visiting with Fred for a few minutes and I was thinking about traffic accidents...You know, the National Safety Council quit calling them "accidents"? They are "Crashes" now. Part of my duties when I was green (OD...not the tree-hugging shade) was to investigate crashes, report on them up the chain of command, and handle claims from local nationals - what ever nation we were in at the time. I got so tired of drivers telling me, "I never saw him coming". I finally started answering, "That's 'cause you can't see when your head is so far up your butt." Acci...crashes are rarely accidents...usually SOMEONE did something they shouldn't have. And it can be really funny listening to their explanations..."I had to swerve left then right before I hit him".
So. I thought I would start a new series about crashes I have seen, or investigated, or reported on. Some are funny, some sad. I wrote about Barnaby, a kid I liked that flew off the bridge over Kist in 1970. That was a sad one.
If you got a good one, share it with me...if not, I'll be sending one or two out soon.