When cars collide

On Thursday I was involved in my first car accident (while I was the driver that is). I will no longer be able to boast that I’ve never been in one. I used to pride myself on that, not even as much as a little fender bender before Thursday.

My nephew Sloane was with me. I had just gotten back from taking photos at the Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek and picked up 9-year old Sloane to take back to the Upper Peninsula with me so he could stay with my parents for a week.

I was leaving work from Seymour Street in Lansing and drove 1.3 miles. After the construction zone I had merged all the way into the left lane on Saginaw (a 4-lane one-way street) headed eastbound. I was ready to start the 400 mile trip to Marquette.

A white two-door car was in front of me on the lane to my direct right. Out of the blue he tried to cut over two lanes at once, as he tried to make a left hand turn at Mahlon Street. Cutting over two lanes at once he never looked and the front right corner of my 1998 Escort Wagon went square into his driver’s door.

I was driving about 40 mph.

My car stopped in the middle of Mahlon Street. His car shot up onto the sidewalk.

I’m proud of my instinct. First I made sure to see that Sloane was okay and started dialing 911 immediately. He was fine. I was fine. They had to remove that door of the other guys car to get him out and hauled him to the hospital. My guess would be a couple broken ribs at worst.

My only concern was Sloane. I was terribly frustrated not because of the accident, but because Sloane was in my car. The last time I had a kid in my car while I was driving was probably three years ago. So why does my first accident have to happen when I finally have a child in my car? Big props to Sloane for staying so calm and patient. He’s a trooper, not to mention an 8 hour drive back to the Upper Peninsula following it. Hopefully he wasn’t too terrified and hopefully his mother won’t hate me too much.

After seeing the damage on the other guy’s car I was scared to look behind me at my own car. I couldn’t believe what I saw, how minimal the damage was. No extra squeaks, rattles, or anything. Only aesthetics. The only minor thing was being able to open the hood, but that was taken care of at home.

Well, car accidents happen. I hope the other guy is alright too. Thankfully I’m a very calm guy and keep my cool. Was mostly frustrating just because I was starting a 400-mile trek to the U.P. But I still made it.

Quite the week it was.