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Sunday, May 2, 2010

The "Crushed Itsy Bitsy Teeney Wenney Car" Story

It was an ordinary day. I had just picked up my wife. Seems she was in an auto accident on Route 501 near the high school where I teach and the retirement community where she works. She was driving our silver 1987 Chevy Sprint which is a 3 cylinder, 48 horsepower, 5 speed manual tranmission, subcompact 3 door hatchback. We'd loved the car since we bought it a couple of years ago. Used regular gas and we got a little over 50 miles to a gallon of gas. Ran great in the snow because of it's weight and front wheel drive. Made in Japan and the engine was the same one used in the Suzuki Swift. Well she had just exited from her job. She usually turns left and crosses traffic, but since traffic was so heavy today, she turned right and was going to come home a different way. She drove about 100 yards, turned on her left turn signal and slowed to make a left hand turn. At the time there was no one behind her. As she was waiting to make her left hand turn, she glanced in her rear view mirror and saw a car approaching and knew it wasn't going to stop. She saw the lady finally look up and see our car. Carol said her eyes had the "deer in the headlight look" when she finally hit her from behind. 83 year old woman who had been to the hospital to visit her husband. My friend Wayne, who is a policeman, told us when we got the car that there are more accidents with gray and silver cars than any other color, since they blend into the background more than any other colors. And boy, she didn't see the car until it was too late. The back of the driver's seat in our car broke, throwing Carol into a lying position. When the car finally came to a halt, the back of the car was right against her headrest. Crushed the car pretty good. The 83 year old was trapped in her car. Carol was able to get out of the car and a neighbor helped her to the side of the road and called 911. This is pre-cellphone era. Carol asked if she would also call the high school to let me know what had happened. Seems I had left school a few minutes before the accident and was home when the school called and told me about the accident. They said our principal, Dave H. was going to the scene to help Carol. I headed right back up and got there in about 15 minutes. The police arrived and told Carol to move our car off the highway!! She handed them the keys and said they can try. Car wasn't going anywhere fast. Ambulance arrived and took the woman to the hospital and both cars were finally towed to a garage. Next day Carol made a visit to our family doctor because of neck pains. After seeing both of the cars, it was a miracle that both drivers survived. Car was totaled and we finally got an insurance check for the book value of the car. We went car shopping and Carol's only request was A REALLY BIG CAR with lots of metal behind her. We settled for a van. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - Picture is of the same style of car we had, but not in the silver color we had.

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