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This is getting pretty scary.
No. This is getting REALLY scary.
I have happened on three traffic collisions in less than 3 weeks. The last two, Evil Empryss was with me, and both times we had just left the SAME Olive Garden.
I've been meaning to write up the last one for awhile, but I've been busy between the end of the summer semester and trying to get a new floor installed in my guest bathroom.
Story the First: The International Incident
So last Saturday, EE and I are on our way home from the OG after having a nice lunch. We planned to head over to my house so we could start installing a new bamboo floor in my guest bathroom. We've only been waiting to do this project for 3 months (literally, I bought the flooring in March) . . . it's just that between the two of us we've been so busy.
So here we come along the Interstate. Up ahead is a red light about to turn green. There's a pickup truck slowing down for the light. Behind him, a small 4 door passenger car is driving very fast. He tries to pull left to go around, but is too late.
Slam! Into the pickup truck. We pass the vehicles on the right and see the female passenger in the pickup is flipping out. So we motion for them to pull over, and we get out.
Driver and female passenger of the pickup are Laotian. He speaks English fine, she not so much. I tell her to sit still; she has some chest pain from the seat belt so I tell her to take it easy and not move around. We call an ambulance. Fire gets there first, then EMS. Highway Patrol takes the longest; over 30 minutes. We stick around since we saw the accident and we want to give a statement to help the pickup driver.
I also checked the driver of the car, an older Hispanic gentleman. He was out of his car and walking around it to check the damage. His engine is still running, but the front end is all smashed in. He tries to move it but I tell him to stay put.
Unfortunately, he doesn't speak a word of English. Fortunately, EE speaks a few words of Spanish. She actually minored in Spanish when she finished up college a couple of years ago. But if you don't use it you lose it, so she had a bit of trouble.
Luckily, I remembered a bit of my medical Spanish (don't use it much since I quit working in the ER) and was at least able to make sure he wasn't injured.
While we're waiting for the cops to show up, the family of the Laotian couple arrives. They actually lived around the corner and actually heard the accident!
Meanwhile, Fire arrives and starts to figure out what happened with the accident (this is part of their job). EE has to ask the Hispanic gentleman for his driver's license and registration. For a bit, he doesn't understand what we're asking. Then he finally figures out what we're asking for and produces . . . a Mexican consulate card. He finds the registration . . . car is owned by his cousin. He gets on his phone and calls her . . . at once point I can hear her going off on him.
Please, no Fratching on this guys. The suck is about what actually happened, not our immigration laws.
We actually felt sorry for him. He was badly shaken by the accident, he was not drunk that I could see (did not smell alcohol on him), but he's totaled his cousin's car, and her insurance (hopefully she had it) is going to have to pay for the repairs to the Laotian guy's car, and his wife's ER bill.
So, after about a half an hour, the HP arrives. EE had gone back to the car to find her wallet . . . and it wasn't in her purse.
Oh oh! Now we're worried about not one, but TWO people driving without a license. Well, technically EE was driving without it on her person, which is still illegal but not as big a deal. Still, when the HP talked to the two other drivers then came to us to ask who was driving our vehicle, I responded, "I was."
Well, right after that the HP asks me to move "my" car away from the scene of the accident. Fortunately, I had the keys because I'd just been to the car to look for something while we were waiting.
I get to the car, go to sit in it . . . and the seat is too far forward for me.
I'm about six inches taller than EE. So I have to push the seat back to get into the car 
Luckily the cop didn't see . . . I think.
The open question was, would the cop arrest the Mexican driver. Our sheriff is a hard ass on illegals, but he's stopped arresting them at every turn (cost the county too much money). But then again, he was driving without a license, and illegals can get them in North Carolina now.
We didn't stay long enough to find out. Once we gave our statement to the HP, it was time to go. Staying on the side of the road is actually dangerous, so we took off before finding out.
Story the Second: Slam Dunk into the Guard Rail
So, about an hour ago, we're leaving the SAME OG as in our previous story. Only this time the Evil Princess was with me and EE. As we're about to go under an underpass of the Interstate, we see a three car collision that had just happened.
Car 1 was a silver SUV. It was on the side walk on the east bound land, turned 180 degrees.
Car 2 was a blue sedan turned diagonal in the eastbound lane.
Car 3 was a grey sedan that had jumped a concrete median crossed the westbound lane, hit the guard rail and was half in half out of the road.
My first response?
"Oh, shit. Not another one! That's three in three weeks!"
I checked on the driver in car 3: shoulder pain from the seat belt. Very shaken older gentleman. I tell him to sit tight and try not to move around. The driver of a gold SUV that was behind the other 3 cars had stopped and was checking in everyone as well.
As we start to cross the road, this guy doesn't even look. A car in the west bound lane didn't slow down for the accident and would have hit the guy had I not called out a warning to him.
So I get across the road safely and check the other drivers. The driver of the blue car is out and walking around, says he's not hurt. He's got ear plugs from an iPod in his ear . . . apparently he was listening to it when the accident happened, and he didn't take them out. So if someone honked at him, he wouldn't have heard it.
I check the female driver of the silver SUV, she says she's sore from her seat belt but OK. I tell her to sit tight, stay in her car and not move until EMS gets here.
EE has 911 on the line, so I carefully cross back over to talk to the dispatcher. Another witness is checking on the female driver, so I figure I'll sit with the driver of the grey car since he was really worked up. I tell the dispatcher what the injuries are; she gives me the boiler plate on what to do (I had told her I was a nurse but I didn't interrupt . . . she has to do this).
PD got there really quick, so did fire and EMS. I talk to one of the cops, explain we didn't see the accident so he tells us we can leave.
We're not sure exactly what happened. It looks like the blue car rear ended the silver SUV, and apparently he was speeding. The driver of the grey car jumped the median to avoid the accident, and lost control.
It's lucky it wasn't worse. NONE of the air bags deployed.
No. This is getting REALLY scary.
I have happened on three traffic collisions in less than 3 weeks. The last two, Evil Empryss was with me, and both times we had just left the SAME Olive Garden.
I've been meaning to write up the last one for awhile, but I've been busy between the end of the summer semester and trying to get a new floor installed in my guest bathroom.
Story the First: The International Incident
So last Saturday, EE and I are on our way home from the OG after having a nice lunch. We planned to head over to my house so we could start installing a new bamboo floor in my guest bathroom. We've only been waiting to do this project for 3 months (literally, I bought the flooring in March) . . . it's just that between the two of us we've been so busy.
So here we come along the Interstate. Up ahead is a red light about to turn green. There's a pickup truck slowing down for the light. Behind him, a small 4 door passenger car is driving very fast. He tries to pull left to go around, but is too late.
Slam! Into the pickup truck. We pass the vehicles on the right and see the female passenger in the pickup is flipping out. So we motion for them to pull over, and we get out.
Driver and female passenger of the pickup are Laotian. He speaks English fine, she not so much. I tell her to sit still; she has some chest pain from the seat belt so I tell her to take it easy and not move around. We call an ambulance. Fire gets there first, then EMS. Highway Patrol takes the longest; over 30 minutes. We stick around since we saw the accident and we want to give a statement to help the pickup driver.
I also checked the driver of the car, an older Hispanic gentleman. He was out of his car and walking around it to check the damage. His engine is still running, but the front end is all smashed in. He tries to move it but I tell him to stay put.
Unfortunately, he doesn't speak a word of English. Fortunately, EE speaks a few words of Spanish. She actually minored in Spanish when she finished up college a couple of years ago. But if you don't use it you lose it, so she had a bit of trouble.
Luckily, I remembered a bit of my medical Spanish (don't use it much since I quit working in the ER) and was at least able to make sure he wasn't injured.
While we're waiting for the cops to show up, the family of the Laotian couple arrives. They actually lived around the corner and actually heard the accident!
Meanwhile, Fire arrives and starts to figure out what happened with the accident (this is part of their job). EE has to ask the Hispanic gentleman for his driver's license and registration. For a bit, he doesn't understand what we're asking. Then he finally figures out what we're asking for and produces . . . a Mexican consulate card. He finds the registration . . . car is owned by his cousin. He gets on his phone and calls her . . . at once point I can hear her going off on him.
Please, no Fratching on this guys. The suck is about what actually happened, not our immigration laws.
We actually felt sorry for him. He was badly shaken by the accident, he was not drunk that I could see (did not smell alcohol on him), but he's totaled his cousin's car, and her insurance (hopefully she had it) is going to have to pay for the repairs to the Laotian guy's car, and his wife's ER bill.
So, after about a half an hour, the HP arrives. EE had gone back to the car to find her wallet . . . and it wasn't in her purse.
Oh oh! Now we're worried about not one, but TWO people driving without a license. Well, technically EE was driving without it on her person, which is still illegal but not as big a deal. Still, when the HP talked to the two other drivers then came to us to ask who was driving our vehicle, I responded, "I was."
Well, right after that the HP asks me to move "my" car away from the scene of the accident. Fortunately, I had the keys because I'd just been to the car to look for something while we were waiting.
I get to the car, go to sit in it . . . and the seat is too far forward for me.
I'm about six inches taller than EE. So I have to push the seat back to get into the car Luckily the cop didn't see . . . I think.The open question was, would the cop arrest the Mexican driver. Our sheriff is a hard ass on illegals, but he's stopped arresting them at every turn (cost the county too much money). But then again, he was driving without a license, and illegals can get them in North Carolina now.
We didn't stay long enough to find out. Once we gave our statement to the HP, it was time to go. Staying on the side of the road is actually dangerous, so we took off before finding out.
Story the Second: Slam Dunk into the Guard Rail
So, about an hour ago, we're leaving the SAME OG as in our previous story. Only this time the Evil Princess was with me and EE. As we're about to go under an underpass of the Interstate, we see a three car collision that had just happened.
Car 1 was a silver SUV. It was on the side walk on the east bound land, turned 180 degrees.
Car 2 was a blue sedan turned diagonal in the eastbound lane.
Car 3 was a grey sedan that had jumped a concrete median crossed the westbound lane, hit the guard rail and was half in half out of the road.
My first response?
"Oh, shit. Not another one! That's three in three weeks!"
I checked on the driver in car 3: shoulder pain from the seat belt. Very shaken older gentleman. I tell him to sit tight and try not to move around. The driver of a gold SUV that was behind the other 3 cars had stopped and was checking in everyone as well.
As we start to cross the road, this guy doesn't even look. A car in the west bound lane didn't slow down for the accident and would have hit the guy had I not called out a warning to him.
So I get across the road safely and check the other drivers. The driver of the blue car is out and walking around, says he's not hurt. He's got ear plugs from an iPod in his ear . . . apparently he was listening to it when the accident happened, and he didn't take them out. So if someone honked at him, he wouldn't have heard it.
I check the female driver of the silver SUV, she says she's sore from her seat belt but OK. I tell her to sit tight, stay in her car and not move until EMS gets here.
EE has 911 on the line, so I carefully cross back over to talk to the dispatcher. Another witness is checking on the female driver, so I figure I'll sit with the driver of the grey car since he was really worked up. I tell the dispatcher what the injuries are; she gives me the boiler plate on what to do (I had told her I was a nurse but I didn't interrupt . . . she has to do this).
PD got there really quick, so did fire and EMS. I talk to one of the cops, explain we didn't see the accident so he tells us we can leave.
We're not sure exactly what happened. It looks like the blue car rear ended the silver SUV, and apparently he was speeding. The driver of the grey car jumped the median to avoid the accident, and lost control.
It's lucky it wasn't worse. NONE of the air bags deployed.
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