I was on the highway coming back from lunch and I saw a really bad wreck, right in front of me.
I was in the far right hand lane (there are 3 lanes going each direction) and there was a semi in front of me. There was a Mustang in the middle lane, right beside the semi. Well, the semi went to get over left and the Mustang swerved left. I think it scared him so bad that he swerved too hard, and tried to correct himself. Well, he overcorrected and ended up facing the side of the semi! And went under it!!! And all I can figure is that something under the semi (like a bar or the spare tire or something) hit the front of the Mustang, and swung him back around and then the back of the Mustang went under the semi! Then, it looked like maybe the back tires on the trailer of the semi hit the back of the Mustang. That sent the Mustang donuting into the far left hand lane. THANKFULLY there wasn’t much traffic. I had actually just been thinking about how there was no one around me and everything. Thank GOD there wasn’t!!!
So, anyway, I came to a dead stop as soon as I saw the car heading sideways toward the semi. I called 911 immediately and was freaking out. I couldn’t even think of where I was! The lady on the phone was asking me where I was and I was just like, “I’m on I40 going East, I’m right by the Ford Center, but I have no idea what street that is!” I’m sure she was thinking, “OMG, shut up!” Anyway, while I was talking to her, both of the guys from the Mustang GOT OUT AND STARTED WALKING AROUND! I was absolutely sure they’d be dead. Seriously, it was the worst accident I’ve ever seen. The passenger cut his arm pretty bad, but that was it. And, the airbags in the car didn’t even go off!
Anyway, I got off the phone with 911 and Keith called and I was telling him everything and saying that I didn’t know what to do and stuff. I mean, like everyone was completely stopped and there was debris everywhere. So, I just sat there and waited. Then all of a sudden there was a cop from out of nowhere, directing traffic. I don’t know if he was parked way back and walked to where we were or what. Anyway, he was waving us on, so I hung my head out the window and told him that I saw everything and he told me to pull over. OMG, when I got to where the Mustang was sitting, I was just like, “OMG!” Literally every part of the outside of the car was either ripped off, or dented in. It was crazy.
So, I had to wait around until other cops got there and tell them what I saw. I felt so sorry for the driver of the Mustang. He was so shook up and all he remembered was the semi swerving over into his lane. He just kept saying, “I thought I was dead. I thought I was dead.” And he was like, “Did we hit the median? How did the back of the car get smashed up?” and I told him that the semi hit him both ways. You should have seen him! He went WHITE! He was so scared. And to make it worse, we were probably at the highest point of the highway and it’s totally shaking the whole time you’re on there, which makes you think you’re shaking even worse than you are. It was just awful. And, the semi guy was totally saying that he didn’t swerve and all that. Lord, I’m probably going to have to go testify or something. Good grief.
It makes you sympathize with those people who are afraid to drive on the highway.
Yeah, me too. It probably would have been optimal to look in my rearview before slamming my breaks, but ya know... lol And, yeah...I was really sure they'd either both be dead or really seriously injured. The passenger cut his arm pretty badly, but other than that and just being shook up, they were both ok. Like my aunt said, someone was watching out for them!
Those people are very lucky... Almost sounds like the mustang was in a one of the truck's blind spots.... I learned from riding with my ex in the semi that people do lots of stupid things around them - it can be sooooooooooo dangerous to not understand where a semi has blind spots.
We had a horrible accident here in May - a 14 year old boy RAN INTO the side of a semi while on his bike. The semi had just come around a corner and wasn't traveling very fast, but the boy hit the toward the back end and was crushed under the back dual tires. He was dead on scene... My husband is on our local rescue squad and helped with the whole thing... I even ended up directing traffic.
Semi's are soooo dangerous.... you've just always got to be careful around them.
I think it's so good that you did see the whole thing, and you know exactly what happened. You were the eyes of the driver in the mustang and now you can help him to make the story correct, and the semi driver will have to fess up.
Wrecks amaze me. They just look like they are happening in slow motion and they seem sureal or something. You gave me cold chills. It just freaks me out how vunerable we all are out there on the roads.
Thank god for cell phones. You were able to get emergency crews there right away!! You need a cup of chamomile tea or something tonight before dinner so you don't have nightmares. I can only imagine that you keep seeing it over and over again. Take care of yourself!!
Wrecks amaze me. They just look like they are happening in slow motion and they seem sureal or something.
I can vouch for that one. I was rearended back in the spring. I saw it happening, new it was going to happen. I was afraid the pickup behind me would hit me, so I took my foot back off the brake when the traffic had all come to a stop, but then realized I'd hit the car in front of me if I did that and immediately put it back on. Made no difference, because he hit me and pushed me into the car in front of me. But all those thoughts in the space of a split second that seemed to drag on several minutes.
8 or 9 years ago, I got hit by a recycle truck (like a garbage truck, but for the recycled stuff instead) when I was leaving to go to work. I still lived at home and I had just pulled out of the driveway and got going straight. I saw the truck coming around the corner pretty fast, IN MY LANE and he hit me head-on, going probably 30 MPH. I didn't get hurt, thankfully. My airbags didn't go off either. I was lucky. My poor car though... I had had it about 6 months and it was the first car I'd ever bought myself. I was so mad. Thankfully, he admitted that he was at fault. He actually said, "I didn't even see her until I hit her!" The waste management company's insurance paid for it all.
But it was scary. There was just nothing I could do. He was coming too fast. I actually remember saying outloud, "OMG, he's going to hit me." and then BOOM! I'm just thankful that it wasn't a little kid on a bike or something like that. He would have run completely over them. He didn't even slow down before he hit me. He honestly didn't see me until he hit my. The impact pushed my car back, probably 20 feet. My mom though that I had backed up after he hit me. I said, "No! He hit me that hard!"
OMG! I just saw a really bad wreck!!!
