On a Wednesday, around one in the afternoon, I headed to my friend Blake’s condo near the Arizona State University campus. It was the first week of last summer; in which, I desperately needed some help cleaning up viruses on my Gateway laptop computer. Driving down the I-10 towards Phoenix, I weaved in and out of traffic enjoying my time by my self with my Red, 1999 Chevrolet Silverado. This truck was my first vehicle in my life. This Chevy was a 4x4 extended cab truck and was lifted six inches off of the ground with thirty-six inch tires. I was very coherent and aware of everyone around me. The traffic on the 1-10 was rolling fairly smoothly and I was excited to get to Blake’s condo to chill and kick it. I pulled up on my turn signal and merged onto the Sky Harbor Airport exit. This was a much quicker route to get to his place opposed to taking the Loop 101 freeway. I exited off on Washington Street and took a quick left onto 48th street. I drove down one block to Van Buren Street and made a right turn, I was almost there.
The speed limit was marked at 40 miles per hour as I drove down Van Buren Street in Phoenix. I only had about a half mile left until I would be at Red Rocks Complex. The next thing that happened was by far the most terrifying moment in my life. I was approaching the loop 202 freeway access road traveling down Van Buren Street. The light post shined a bright red glow from a distance. My speed remained at 40 miles per hour bearing in mind that I still had a bit until I would have to come to a complete stop. The luck that I had been having earlier with consistent green lights and no road rage frustrations—I had a decent feeling that the rest of the drive would work out in my favor. The light suddenly turned green right before I was going to step on my brake pedal. I proceeded to drive through the green light. Suddenly, a black four door Dodge Ram pickup truck sped through the frontage road proceeding back onto the loop 202. It all happened so incredibly fast and the speeding truck began to get closer and closer. I tried reacting and stomping on my brakes, but it was too late. We were both going at a fast speed, yet, I believe he was going faster. My truck drove straight into the passenger side of the black Dodge truck as my head hit the airbag. I couldn’t believe I had just t-boned another car, considering I have never been in an accident before this day. My truck smashed into his truck so hard that both of our trucks were completely totaled.
I literally saw my life flash before my eyes during this small time frame. My adrenaline had never experienced such a powerful climax in my entire life. The strong smell coming from the air bag, burnt tire rubber, and crushed metal filled my lungs. After immediate shock, I pressed on the gas pedal as hard as I could to try to move onto the side of the road to avoid the oncoming traffic. The entire front of my truck was smashed into my tires, which made it extremely hard to move my truck. Nevertheless, I managed to merge off to the right and the person that ran the light merged to the left. My driver side door was jammed pretty badly-I barely could get out of my truck. I was in such shock when I got out of the car that I didn’t know what had happened. Across the road I saw the truck that I had just t-boned and the three passengers that were in the car. They looked as if they were more messed up than I was from the impact. At the time I didn’t feel that much pain because my adrenaline was pumping at such a fast rate. I was very confused and got out of my truck and called my mom telling her that I had got into a car accident and that I was alright, she told me, “everything will be okay as long as you are not hurt, everything else is fixable”. Her words calmed me down and comforted me when I was so shocked of what had just happened. Then, a car suddenly pulled over behind me. Two Mexican American men in their late twenties got out of their car and began to talk to me about the accident. I had been blessed with eyewitnesses! I was so thankful because I was so discombobulated from the crash that I honestly didn’t know what had happened. They assured me that I had a green light and they were following me and that they saw the whole collision. I was so fortunate to have these men help on my side to help with my case. I felt very bad for the people in the truck I had hit, so I went over to talk to them. The driver told me that he had a green light as well which really confused me, but I knew I had my eyewitnesses so I was fairly calm about the situation.
The Phoenix police arrived with an ambulance within a matter of minuets. An officer came to me and asked me for my story on what had happened. I filled out my information and gave it to him once I was finished. The paramedics asked me if I needed to be transported to the hospital. My adrenaline was still flowing within my body and I really didn’t see the need to go right away. I signed a waiver and the ambulance took off down the freeway with the three men from the other truck. My friend Blake came to the scene after I called him telling him what happened. The other truck was getting towed away by a tow truck and I was trying to get a tow truck that would be able to tow it to our family shop. Eventually my truck was towed away and the police officer left and the accident was finally over. I left with Blake and we went back to his place. I was so shocked and arouse of the whole accident I began to call everyone to explain the incident. My adrenaline began to fade and pain in my body started to become worse every second. Later that night I went to the Urgent Care Hospital in near my house. The doctor said I just had bruising but nothing too serious. He prescribed me to 10 Tylenol with codeine that barely took the pain away. The next few weeks I felt as if a train had hit me. I was in such pain but it eventually went away. I was very thankful that I made it out of this terrifying incident alive and very sad that I would be without a vehicle for the entire summer.
No comments:
Post a Comment