Crash
Entry posted by Mooney
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On the way up to my friend's cabin for our four day weekend I had my first experience of being in a car crash.
We were traveling down the highway at about 60 mph in silence brought on by the gloomy weather. The three of us in the back seat (the suv we were in had two seats in the front, three in back, and a storage area behind the seats) were either asleep or very close to it. Unfortunately, so was the driver. He dozed off, causing the car to drift across the left lane and off the side of the road. We bounced down the slope which was covered in tall wet grass, which made it impossible to steer or brake, and slammed into a tree at about 50 mph. When we hit the tree, an unsecured firewood log came flying forward from the storage area behind me and hit me in the back of the head.
All five people were able to get out of the car quickly, probably because of the adrenaline rush the crash had given us. It wasn't until a minute later that I touched the back of my head and saw blood on my hand. After that I just kinda sat on the ground with my head in my hands, trying to focus on breathing slowly. Pretty soon two police cars, a firetruck, and three ambulances showed up and we were all strapped down to hard plastic stretchers with braces on our heads and necks. Since I was also complaining about a bruise the seatbelt had given me, the medics also cut my shirt open to look at my chest. So there I was, laying down on a hard plastic board with a wound on my head and chest and a wide open shirt in 45 F weather (They also removed my jacket to check my shoulders for injuries).
The ride in the ambulance was ok, except that the part of my head that got hit by the log was starting to hurt from pressing so hard on the stretcher. Once we got to the hospital, I was left on my hard stretcher and placed on a bed. My legs were getting numb from being strapped down, my head hurt from the pressure being put on my wound, and I was annoyed out of my mind since the nurse turned on MTV and left the room. After about 20 minutes, the doctor came into the room, rolled me off of my stretcher, looked at my head for all of 10 seconds, told my parents (over the phone) that I didn't have a concussion, and left the room. After another 15 minutes, a nurse came in, buzzed off a small section of hair around my wound, and placed a drop of medical glue on it.
After that I was given a shirt to replace the one they cut and told to join my friends in the waiting room. The kid who had been sitting in the passenger seat was ok except for a sprained wrist from hitting his arm on the gear shifter and a stiff arm from where they gave him an IV. The kid who had been sitting behind the driver (next to the door on the left side of the car) just had seatbelt burn and a bruise across the left side of his chest. His shirt had also gotten ripped, so he had scrubs on just like me. The girl who had been sitting in the middle seat in the back had a small bruise on her chin from where the soda bottle she was holding had hit her, and her pants had split up the back. The driver ended up on crutches with a sprained ankle and a hurt wrist. My injuries were a few minor cuts on the back of my head, a bruise across the bottom of my stomach, another one across the left side of my chest, a bump on my left shin, and sore muscles in my chest. The car was totaled, with massive damage to the entire front end.
Since everyone was ok, we were able to continue the trip and camp out for two days. It was just as fun as the last two times I've been there, only with much more soreness involved. The night of the crash, we even snuck into a cattle farm and played with some cows.
The four of us were able to laugh the whole thing off, but the driver seemed pretty broken up. His insurance is going to cover everything, and no one is badly hurt, but he is going to have a hard time forgiving himself for falling asleep at the wheel with four teenagers in the car.
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