Joyphilnow’s Blog

A year ago we hit a boar. I wrote about it on an earlier blog…about a year ago. Today we hit a cement barrier. We hit the median, a cement ‘border’ along the 210 freeway, about 10 mles from our home. We likely totaled the Toyata we had bought in August, to replace the replacement Toyota we had bought in January, after we had hit and killed the boar—and totaled our Honda.

We were returning home after a long weekend in Palm Springs. We had enjoyed the five films we viewed there at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. We has also enjoyed the lovely inn we stayed at.

The rain started heavy before Rancho Cucamonga, east of Upland. We stopped in a downpour, at a J C Penny outlet and returned to the Freeway in heavy rain. We were listening to the radio and talking about a some of the films we had seen over the weekend. It was still raining very heavily when I moved out to the car pool lane.  I was flowing with the traffic but suddenly and without warning I felt the back of the car slipping sideways and I immediately knew I was not in control. The back end slid to right, then a bit left, and finally to right again. This  time it floated around and pulled us to the left towards the cement barrier separating the east and west traffic.

The primary impact was against the cement median on  the passenger side of the rear end of the car and our bodies were snapped back and to the right. Joy’s shoulder hit sharply against the passenger door; I felt my head snap back and sideways. We came to a sudden stop, facing the opposite direction of the traffic. Fortunately, the freeway we were on was broad and had an unused lane to the left of the carpool lane. After the impact, we sat silently for a few moments, waiting to hear how each felt, facing oncoming traffic. We soon discovered that we had not suffered serious injuries and we called 911. A voice explained that due to the high volume of calls, I would be put on hold. The wait lasted for only 15 seconds; the operator answered and I explained clearly what had happened: We had had a single-car accident, our car was damaged; we were not seriously injured; we needed the highway patrol, but not an ambulance.

As I was talking to the 911 operator, I saw a fire truck approaching in the fairly heavy traffic, lights flashing.  The driver made his way from the first lane, drew up and stopped in the carpool lane. I got out and went to his door, explaining what had happened. I said we did not need an ambulance. He asked if the car ran. I said I’d try it. I did and it did. I kicked the rear bumper off to the side of the road, leaving it for future drivers to wonder how it got there. The fire truck driver gave me protection as I backed up and did a three point turn and he drove behind me as I wended my way back to the carpool lane and across the third, second, and first lanes, then beyond to the sizable right shoulder. The fire truck drove off to help others and I drove no more than 3-4 miles an hour. When a Highway Patrol vehicle pulled up behind me. I stopped and spoke with the officer. He said he could not accompany me; he had a call to check on an accident, but he might return to me if the accident was in fact out of his district. He drove  on and left me to crawl towards the next exit.

We called our daughter Emily, who was at our home, waiting for her husband to return from Ecuador the following day. We told her we wanted to try to reach our friends’ home and asked her to meet us there. David and Leann Augsburger live in Claremont, about 4 miles from the accident. We drove on to the next exit, “Baseline Drive,” in Claremont.  A mile before that exit, the highway patrolman had pulled up behind me again. I got out and thanked him for returning. He said he would stay with me until I got off of the freeway. He did so, then veering off to help other stormed travelers while we turned west on to Baseline Drive, and continued our slow crawl to the Augsburgers.

The car’s alignment was clearly damaged. Travelling faster that the 3-4 mph, brought shaking in the rear wheels, and some thumping. I wonderd about driving from the scene near the acident but we did not want to wait on the freeway on a day when there would surely be a high demand for emergency services. And, the car seemed to be able to handle the 3-4 mph. Before we reached David and Leann’s home, David pulled up behind us to highway patrol us the last 3/4 mile. We pulled into his driveway and were welcomed with warm blankets, soft couches, warm heating pads, delicious sandwiches, cookies, and tea, and a lot of comforting care.

I reported the accident to our insurance, Geico, and their representative was very helpful. Within 3 hours of the accident I picked up a car rental and we were home within four hours of  the crash.

Our accident could have been much more serious. We had an extra lane left of the car pool lane and we were somehow pulled to ‘that’ lane and the cement divider just beyond it, away from the flow of the relatively heavy traffic. We are very grateful for that. And of course it goes without saying that we did not suffer the trauma of an earthquake and are not without home and food and water. And…the warm care of our friends showed us again how fortunate we are to have them.