Maybe Not THAT Awesome

It was the eve before leaving with Riley and Brendan for Park City, Utah to meet up with Grandma and Grandpa Jerdon. I was running some last minute errands to make sure we had everything and thought I would pop over to Walmart. I was stopped at the stop sign of Conklin and Broadway, waiting for the traffic to clear so that I could make a left turn onto Broadway. There was a car approaching on my left in the designated right turn lane, with it's right turn light blinking. I checked for oncoming traffic in the opposite direction and proceeded to pull out when suddenly there was a horn before I was struck on the left front side of the car by the car which was SUPPOSED to have been turning right.  

In this picture, you can see that the right turn signal was still blinking on the other car. The driver who was supposed to turn right had decided at the last minute to go straight and hit me. All the airbags deployed.

My first thought was, "Oh, crap! We're supposed to be driving this car to Utah tomorrow!!!" Then I realized that my arms were all covered in airbag powder burns. I realized that the driver of the other car was a little old lady, so I got out of the van to check on her. A couple of witnesses and passersby also came to her car as I opened the door and asked her if she was ok.

She responded with, "Of COURSE I'm not ok! You HIT me!"

To which I couldn't help but respond with, "YOU were supposed to TURN!"

She was moving and conscience, but was complaining of injuries. There were a couple of spots that she was bleeding from small contusions, so I went ahead and called 9-1-1 and the whole cavalry came out, the fire department, ambulance and police. It was quite a show for the passing cars and neighbors nearby.

Then I realized that I was also hurt. I looked down and saw that both of my shins were badly bruised and I appeared to be bleeding from my left one. Also, the knuckles of my middle fingers, where I must have been holding the steering wheel were already swelling to double their normal size.

I called Jake who was mercifully just waking up at home after his overnight shift, then sat on the curb while the firemen put sand on the fluids leaking out from under the van. One came over and started putting bandages and ice packs on my shins.

By the time Jake arrived, the police officer came over to ask what had happened. Not long afterward, he proceeded to give ME a ticket for not yielding at the stop sign!!! Hwhat?!?! She was not in through traffic and I shouldn't have HAD to yield to her! He wouldn't see reason, though, and insisted that I should have waited until she had turned. Poppycock! I even pointed out the positioning of her car being crooked into the through traffic lane and with her right blinker STILL GOING!! He claimed that he would add it to his report, but refused to take back the ticket.

The van was towed away to the tow yard until we could figure out what our insurance company was going to do. Surely it would be deemed a total loss. Ugh.

The little old lady was taken away by the ambulance and I just went home with Jake. We hadn't quite left the scene yet when I started getting texts from Mandy Richardson and a new friend in the new ward, Jessica Robinson, asking about the accident and if I was ok!! I was so shocked! How could they have known already?

Apparently, one of the brethren from the Greenacres ward had driven passed after the accident and seen me. He works with Jessica's husband and thought that he remembered that we had moved into their ward. Then he also let Mandy know since she is my old Relief Society president and a good friend. News does travel fast in the Church!

Jessica was very kind and brought us all dinner that night while I sat on the couch icing my poor shins, puzzling over what to do for the following day. We had planned to get an early start. Jake was going to be driving to the airport to leave for his Reserves weekend in California and Caleb was going to be dropped off at his friend's house to stay there and work on his Lifeguarding course while we were away. Now what???

Progressive Insurance called to let us know that my claim was being processed and that we could have a rental car for up to a week under our policy. So, we decided that I would wait to leave and see just how stiff and in what kind of shape I was in the following day. If I was feeling alright, I'd go to Enterprise with Jake and pick up the rental car, before taking Riley and Brendan in the Hyundai to Park City. Jake would use the rental car to get things done before leaving the following day for California, dropping Caleb off at his friend's house, and then drop off the rental car and take an Uber to the airport. From California, he would fly to Salt Lake as planned and I would pick him up there when he could join us.

The day after the accident, I was a little stiff, but alright, so we went through with the plan. I had originally booked a room for the boys and me in Idaho Falls, but we weren't going to make it that far, so I rebooked for a room in Butte, Montana and we were off. Not the start to this summer or holiday that I was planning on. I know that the boys have been complaining about the van being old and getting run down, but we weren't ready to buy a whole new car. And now I've got a ticket pending. I want to try and fight it. I'll deal with it once we get back home.