Friday, August 10, 2012

Rear Ended

Here I am sitting, minding my business and all of a sudden I feel rather large impact from the back of my car.

We were on our way to the airport (again) at 5:15 in the morning. At this time of day, there's no traffic and traffic was moving well.  Let me preface this by saying that I live in LA and there's always traffic on the 405 - always. My daughter's flight was scheduled to leave at 7:40 am; because the ultimate destination was overseas we had to arrive two hours before the flight. We were aiming for 5:40 or thereabouts. Traffic was moving well and then all of a sudden it wasn't. We were at a dead stop for a full 5 minutes.  It was strange because no one could see what was causing the holdup. After 5 minutes traffic started to move again, but then stopped suddenly - and this is when it happened.  I stopped with sufficient space in front of me.  Then I heard and felt BANG. I screamed - then I stopped when I realized I was OK though I had banged my head very hard on the head rest. This all took place in the HOV lane. Now traffic was at a real stand still and this time the reason was clear - someone had rear ended another driver.


I put my hazard lights and got out of the car.  I went to the car behind me - the driver of that vehicle said he was OK, but that the car behind him had hit him and then he hit me.  So I went to the third car - she was fine physically it appeared but frazzled; the front of her car looked like an accordion.

The cop came - he asked if I was fine, I said something to effect of I'm fine but he hit me.  He then responded calm down, which I thought was odd as I was far from not being calm.  I smiled and tried to tell him I was on my way to the airport but he wouldn't let me speak.  I found all of this odd.  Since I was in the front he eventually said, he would halt traffic and direct us to the shoulder where we could pull over.  A little frazzled and slightly annoyed, I followed him.  After determining that everyone was fine in my car, I really didn't want my daughter to miss her flight.

Once we were on the shoulder, I noticed the cop talking to the second and third drivers.  I tried to stay "calm" as I was instructed and called my husband.  He said I needed to let the cop know I had a time constraint, be aggressive.  Now if anyone knows me, you know I know how to be aggressive.  I said he's ignoring me.  He said do the weeping damsel thing but let him know you're pressed for time. OK.

I noticed that the second driver was able to leave. I got out the car and told the cop I had a time constraint and I'm trying to get to the airport, what do I need to do. At this point he became very helpful. The third driver had gotten the second driver's information, so I was able to exchange information with her. I wasn't hurt and the cop was there, so I left. I told the cop to have a nice day.

I got to the airport around 6:15 - my daughter was able to check in and made her flight.

I have no idea why this happened.  Getting rear ended on the 405 seems to be a rite of passage for living in California. I am grateful for the way everything transpired and that no one was hurt. And if God was trying to get my attention, He sure did by having me bumped from behind.

Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth." Hosea 6:3
How has God gotten your attention lately?



2 comments:

  1. Sorry this happened to you -- especially as you were getting your daughter to the airport. But, I'm glad you guys are okay and that she made it to her flight on time. Whew!

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  2. Your daughter got on the plane eventually, so it seems that you were fortunate that everything turned out to be fine. I just hope that you didn’t suffer any injury from that, since you said you hit your head very hard. Sometimes, symptoms don’t show until much later. Be safe!

    Lora Steele

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