It was the Saturday night before Christmas and my two friends and I were on our way home from last minute Christmas shopping. We were jamming out to music during the whole car ride home, singing, laughing, and having a good old time. We were about two minutes from getting to my friends house, stopped at a red light. I was on my phone texting and, before I knew it, I suddenly heard a crashing sound and I looked up and saw pieces of cars flying everywhere in front of my eyes. At the moment it had happened to fast. I thought it was glass from the windshield breaking. I look at my friend and asked him what just happened? All three of us were in such shock. I finally came to the realization that my friend had not crashed into anything, but that someone had rear ended us pretty hard.
I was the first to get out of the car while my two friends just moaned in pain. My adrenaline was so high that I hadn't even felt any pain yet, I was just more in shock. The lady came up to us saying she was sorry and asked if we were okay. She then began to argue that the light was green and that she had not seen us at all. We still aren't sure if she was under the influence of some substance or if she was texting and driving because there is no way that she couldn't have seen us.
The police finally showed up after waiting an hour in the cold 25 degree weather. They apologized that they took so long due to several other accidents that occurred before ours. After hearing both sides of the story the police told us that the lady was at fault and that an ambulance was on their way for us. We needed to get to the hospital to get checked out.
Once we got to the hospital it took us forever to be seen. We were there from about 12:00 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. Finally, after hours of waiting, we each had X-rays and CAT scans. After patiently waiting for the results to come back we received some good, but also bad news. The driver and myself were fine and could leave, we just had to take it easy by resting, icing our back and necks, and taking the pain killers prescribed. However, our friend who was in the back seat had two disks shifted in her neck and had to stay overnight.
We were all still in excruciating pain, especially our friend that was in the back seat, but this accident really opened up our eyes. My mom always told me how nervous she was about me driving on the roads around the holidays. She always said that she wasn't scared of me driving, but was afraid of the other drivers due to all the drinking and partying going on to celebrate the holiday. I now realize why she was always so scared to let me out around any big holiday.
We are so lucky to all be alive and not more seriously injured. Spending our Saturday night in the hospital wasn't our plan, but we are so lucky that nothing worse happened. I hope that, as you read this, you'll also open your eyes to not only being aware of your surroundings during the holidays, but every time you get into a car. Knowing who is driving to the front, back, and sides of you is so crucial. You really can't trust other people on the road! I hope that my story also makes people realize the importance of wearing a seat belt. They really do save your lives. Remember, click it or get a ticket!
