- Jun 12, 2009
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sorry if my story is a bit harsh and random but i've wanted to write this out and express it for so long because it hurts me alot, and i've been told numerous times that getting it out will help me feel closure...
July 14th 2008 I was hit by a drunk driver. It was on the highway late at night around 1 am, the vehicle clipped me on my back right corner after trying to cut off the vehicle behind me while we were traveling in the left lane, he had switched over from the right lane.
after he clipped me, my vehicle did a few full spins and then bolted towards the right lane and i remember seeing the cars who were once behind me in front of me, thier headlights beaming, they swerved all over the road to avoid hitting me. I closed my eyes and screamed for my life and aloud I said goodbye to the ones i loved. not been hit by any other vehicles, i hit the guardrail headon and came to rest against it on my drivers side. It took me a bit to come to my senses because i had been knocked out and i had hit my head, i was badly bruised and hurt but i had no idea of the extent of my bodily injury. My car had no power, no lights or anything and i was scared someone else was going to hit me on the side of the highway. i started to panic when i realized i couldnt open my windows or doors on my drivers side because i was against the gaurdrail. i didnt have anything strong enough to break the windows, and my cellphone had been broken in half in the accident (flipphone), and it along with one of my flipflops was later found in the back hatch of the car. i didnt want to get out the other side of the car because of oncoming vehicles, i tryed the back left door but to no avail because they were smashed against the guardrail. i then began to scream and pound on the windows (i dont really know why but i was so scared i wasnt even thinking of what i was doing) the car was smoking and the engine then caught on fire, through my window in the back seat i could see across the lanes the man who hit me, he was sitting in his car trying to start it, and he was staring at me screaming and pounding on the window for help.
This is when i began to cry and wonder did this man have no remorse or empathy towards anyone else on the road? i then gave in to my fear of being hit by someone on the road (as i didnt want to burn alive in a metal car) and jumped out my passenger door being so mad, i ran (with one flip flop on) across the broken debris and glass and to the breakdown lane farther past my car...there i was so distraught i never even saw what was coming, right then and there. After he hit me our cars both went to the right, swerving and hitting the guardrail, this is where i smashed headon and he swiped it on his side, he then put his foot to the gas and REENTERED the right lane of the highway (yes to leave the scene of the accident, and leave me stuck in my car screaming for help) this is when he hit the vehicle that he originaly cut off behind me. thank god he clipped them while he was just starting to accelerate, and they were slowing down (to help me as i later found out)because the impact wasnt too bad, but they had a newborn baby in the vehicle... I would have died inside knowing that i lived and he took a childs life, but she was o.k.
When police, fire and rescue arrived to help, the man who hit me refused to come out of his car, the police had to break his window and force him to come out. This drunk man who hit me (unnamed.) never called to say his apologies to either me or the other family, and all he was charged with was a DUI! the same offense he would have received if he hadnt endangered either of us and had just been pulled over for a routine check. im appalled that he wasnt charged with reckless driving, speeding, endangerment, trying to leave the scene of an accident, or anything else!! im extremely angered and saddened by this and i dont beleive what he got is what he deserves, it wont keep him off the road next time he drinks.
My life now has been severely altered, I'ts been almost a year and i still have reoccuring nightmares of that fateful night, i wake up in cold sweats with the picture of his face looking at me trapped in my own car, i see the headlights of the oncoming vehicles almost weekly in my nightmares.
I still (sadly) attend physical therapy for a permenant spinal injury called lumbar spinal stenosis, I also visit a counselor who helps me deal with my reoccuring nightmares and without her i dont think i would have ever gotten behind the wheel again.
I now drive avoiding the highway, and i hate driving alone now. I dont hang with my friends as much either(sounds horrible) but i hate being around them when they are drinking, which is most weekends because we are all around 23 years of age. If its at night i wont drive on the highway at any cost.
I was told by the police, fire and rescue teams that i was lucky to still be alive and not paralzyed.
i thank my seatbelt and my guardian angels for saving my life that night, and the people who did stop to help me i will be forever thankful and feel in debt too...
thankyou for reading my story, Ive never told anyone in person this whole story besides my couselor...because most of my friends think things like this are all chance, and they dont realize what an impact it made to my life.
two weeks before my accident a girl i knew (with my same last name as my own) died in an automobile accident, i think everyday how the news paper could have said my name instead of hers, and i feel horribly guilty i am still alive.
Moral of the story: Please dont let anyone in your life drink and drive, dont listen to your friends when they tell you they are a "good drunk driver" or that they are O.K. to drive. because its not ok,... and please dont ever make that mistake... because you could alter or end someone elses life
July 14th 2008 I was hit by a drunk driver. It was on the highway late at night around 1 am, the vehicle clipped me on my back right corner after trying to cut off the vehicle behind me while we were traveling in the left lane, he had switched over from the right lane.
after he clipped me, my vehicle did a few full spins and then bolted towards the right lane and i remember seeing the cars who were once behind me in front of me, thier headlights beaming, they swerved all over the road to avoid hitting me. I closed my eyes and screamed for my life and aloud I said goodbye to the ones i loved. not been hit by any other vehicles, i hit the guardrail headon and came to rest against it on my drivers side. It took me a bit to come to my senses because i had been knocked out and i had hit my head, i was badly bruised and hurt but i had no idea of the extent of my bodily injury. My car had no power, no lights or anything and i was scared someone else was going to hit me on the side of the highway. i started to panic when i realized i couldnt open my windows or doors on my drivers side because i was against the gaurdrail. i didnt have anything strong enough to break the windows, and my cellphone had been broken in half in the accident (flipphone), and it along with one of my flipflops was later found in the back hatch of the car. i didnt want to get out the other side of the car because of oncoming vehicles, i tryed the back left door but to no avail because they were smashed against the guardrail. i then began to scream and pound on the windows (i dont really know why but i was so scared i wasnt even thinking of what i was doing) the car was smoking and the engine then caught on fire, through my window in the back seat i could see across the lanes the man who hit me, he was sitting in his car trying to start it, and he was staring at me screaming and pounding on the window for help.
This is when i began to cry and wonder did this man have no remorse or empathy towards anyone else on the road? i then gave in to my fear of being hit by someone on the road (as i didnt want to burn alive in a metal car) and jumped out my passenger door being so mad, i ran (with one flip flop on) across the broken debris and glass and to the breakdown lane farther past my car...there i was so distraught i never even saw what was coming, right then and there. After he hit me our cars both went to the right, swerving and hitting the guardrail, this is where i smashed headon and he swiped it on his side, he then put his foot to the gas and REENTERED the right lane of the highway (yes to leave the scene of the accident, and leave me stuck in my car screaming for help) this is when he hit the vehicle that he originaly cut off behind me. thank god he clipped them while he was just starting to accelerate, and they were slowing down (to help me as i later found out)because the impact wasnt too bad, but they had a newborn baby in the vehicle... I would have died inside knowing that i lived and he took a childs life, but she was o.k.
When police, fire and rescue arrived to help, the man who hit me refused to come out of his car, the police had to break his window and force him to come out. This drunk man who hit me (unnamed.) never called to say his apologies to either me or the other family, and all he was charged with was a DUI! the same offense he would have received if he hadnt endangered either of us and had just been pulled over for a routine check. im appalled that he wasnt charged with reckless driving, speeding, endangerment, trying to leave the scene of an accident, or anything else!! im extremely angered and saddened by this and i dont beleive what he got is what he deserves, it wont keep him off the road next time he drinks.
My life now has been severely altered, I'ts been almost a year and i still have reoccuring nightmares of that fateful night, i wake up in cold sweats with the picture of his face looking at me trapped in my own car, i see the headlights of the oncoming vehicles almost weekly in my nightmares.
I still (sadly) attend physical therapy for a permenant spinal injury called lumbar spinal stenosis, I also visit a counselor who helps me deal with my reoccuring nightmares and without her i dont think i would have ever gotten behind the wheel again.
I now drive avoiding the highway, and i hate driving alone now. I dont hang with my friends as much either(sounds horrible) but i hate being around them when they are drinking, which is most weekends because we are all around 23 years of age. If its at night i wont drive on the highway at any cost.
I was told by the police, fire and rescue teams that i was lucky to still be alive and not paralzyed.
i thank my seatbelt and my guardian angels for saving my life that night, and the people who did stop to help me i will be forever thankful and feel in debt too...
thankyou for reading my story, Ive never told anyone in person this whole story besides my couselor...because most of my friends think things like this are all chance, and they dont realize what an impact it made to my life.
two weeks before my accident a girl i knew (with my same last name as my own) died in an automobile accident, i think everyday how the news paper could have said my name instead of hers, and i feel horribly guilty i am still alive.
Moral of the story: Please dont let anyone in your life drink and drive, dont listen to your friends when they tell you they are a "good drunk driver" or that they are O.K. to drive. because its not ok,... and please dont ever make that mistake... because you could alter or end someone elses life
