Crazy Accident Story

[jkwest]

So, I was gone last week...I took the fam to Disneyland for three days. Great trip, great weather...

Now, the crazyist part of the trip happened before we even made it to the L.A. area....if any of you have driven the I-5 corridor between L.A. and Sacramento you will know how desolate it is. Long stretches of nothing...anyways...I was driving south towards L.A. in the fast lane roughly 84 mph...cruising speed for that corridor...

I look up in my rear view mirror and see a Chevy Tahoe swerve off the road..back on..and then veer sharply off again..it, then, proceeds to flip over side to side about 8 times...dust and shit flying everywhere...

"Holy Shit!" I say out loud..(first time I've slipped in front of all of my kids... )...I quickly decelerate and flip a Uy until I am going north again...I pass the vehicle, which is resting on its drivers side and pull over on the shoulder. I run over to the SUV and reach it the same time as another guy has, we'll call him Ted for reference...

The passenger door then tries to open..which is "up" like a trapdoor..the other guy, Ted, pulls open the door and this lady, Sally (not her real name), climbs out and falls to the ground..gets up and starts stumbling around...I catch her and slowly sit her down..blood all over the side of her head and coming out of her mouth...I start asking her the normal questions that you do in that situation..

"Holy Shit!! Are you ok!?"
Yes...

"Is there anyone else in the vehicle?"
no

"Are you alright?"
what...

"Is there anyone else in the vehicle?"
No..

"Holy shit! Are you ok?"
I think so..

Ted, then declares, "We need to move her...there are flames coming out of the engine."

So, I pick Sally up and carry her to Ted's truck and trailer which are just north of her car..Ted starts his truck and drives about 100 yards up away from Sally's now smoldering vehicle..others have shown up...a nice lady with some clothes to cover up Sally who is starting to come out of shock..an Oriental guy starts taking photos of the car on fire...and about 4 people calling 911...

We ask Sally if she is in pain anywhere...her wrist, shoulder, nose, and ankle are hurting and most likely all broken...


we, then, watch Sally's SUV methodically burn down to the ground as the ambulance and cops finally show up..I give my statement to the cop as Sally is loaded into the ambulance...

It was all almost surreal...it was nonstop from the beginning and felt almost dreamlike after it was over...
Sally was so frikin lucky..kind of a rush to see how lucky she was...it could have been really bad.
I have never been directly involved in a big accident like that in my life and I hope I don't ever have to be again...
Thanks for reading..

[pacificvibes]

DAMN!!!!!! You are a great citizen for making a u-turn to help them out

At least it happened behind you and not in front of your vehicle; that happened to me once and I nearly crapped my pants.

Did you ever find out what happened??? Did they just lose control?

[mikejet]

I wonder what caused it? Sounds like one of her tires blew out. Glad she's ok.

That reminds me of the time I was driving to work early in the morning. I get to this over pass and see two flashlights looking down at the freeway. As I get closer the cars in front of me start swerving and then i notce the body in front of me. I later found out a man had commited suicide by jumping from that overpass.

[jkwest]

Originally Posted by mikejet

I wonder what caused it? Sounds like one of her tires blew out. Glad she's ok.

I think she was talking on the phone and hit that "rumble strip" on the side of the road and it scared her...those things will shock you if you aren't paying attention...

[DaMexiRican]

Dam. That's crazy. It really is a different situation seeing something like that happen in front of you and reacting. Props to you for turning around and helping.

[dpomp]

Originally Posted by jkwest

I think she was talking on the phone and hit that "rumble strip" on the side of the road and it scared her...those things will shock you if you aren't paying attention...

nice job jk. i'm sure there's a lot of people in this world that would have just kept on going. kudos to you my friend. i hope the lady ended up being alright. but she was breaking a california law by talking on the phone while driving. so i hope in the end (after she gets fixed up) she gets a ticket at least. she could have very easily taken out your family or someone elses family with her.

[jkwest]

Originally Posted by dpompeo

nice job jk. i'm sure there's a lot of people in this world that would have just kept on going. kudos to you my friend. i hope the lady ended up being alright. but she was breaking a california law by talking on the phone while driving. so i hope in the end (after she gets fixed up) she gets a ticket at least. she could have very easily taken out your family or someone elses family with her.

She might have had a headset...and just wasn't paying attention..who knows..

[Blu-Benny]

good for you not to just leave her there thinking someone else will handle it.

[pat on the back]

[ground chuck]

good job, but why is it always the oriental guy taking pictures?

[pacificvibes]

Originally Posted by dpompeo

nice job jk. i'm sure there's a lot of people in this world that would have just kept on going. kudos to you my friend. i hope the lady ended up being alright. but she was breaking a california law by talking on the phone while driving. so i hope in the end (after she gets fixed up) she gets a ticket at least. she could have very easily taken out your family or someone elses family with her.

Someone was defiantly looking over her and her family.

But it boggles my mind on why people still insist on talking on the phone, just buy a cheap bluetooth set or pull over (unless your on the freeway). My word.

[jkwest]

Originally Posted by ground chuck

good job, but why is it always the oriental guy taking pictures?

he was either Oriental or Samoan...I just heard the cop yelling at him to get out of there...

[jkwest]

here's a picture my son took with his cellphone while I was helping the lady out...

[mikejet]

Originally Posted by jkwest

here's a picture my son took with his cellphone while I was helping the lady out...

You sir, have some big brass ones. That is a big fire.

[Sussudio]

man that's crazy. that's awesome you helped out; you were in right place at the right time. unfortunately...sally apparently wasn't

[pacificvibes]

Originally Posted by jkwest

here's a picture my son took with his cellphone while I was helping the lady out...

holy crap....

[phlydude]

Kudos - good deal pulling the u-turn to get back to her

Even when you aren't involved in an accident, you don't know sometimes if you should stop...it's one of those things...

[beefytwinkie]

Originally Posted by jkwest

here's a picture my son took with his cellphone while I was helping the lady out...

Is your son Asian?
Nice job, man.

[jkwest]

Originally Posted by beefytwinkie

Is your son Asian?
Nice job, man.

lol...no...the asian guy had a full on Rebel EoS or something...I think he even was checking light direction....

[garlad]

Fair play JK, really brave of you to turn back.. you should be given a blu-ray.com recognition award we should introduce that! Give you a special blu-ray.com avatar!

But in all seriousness, wonderful what you did. Respect.

[QwikSand]

You are Jack Bauer.