A Thankful Outcome

Dan Gonzales

Member
Messages
511
Location
Whittier, CA, USA
This morning I had to drive the wife to work with the kids because I needed the "big" car, our 7 seater Explorer (she won't drive my truck).

Stopped right at a crosswalk waiting for the red light to change there was a lot of noise and great jerking of the car. To my right was a Peterbilt with two dump trailers grinding its way down the side of the car. We found ourselves in the middle of the intersection and pushed one lane over to the left. The Peterbilt had stopped just past the intersection. I made sure we were all still in the car and drove around the truck to the front, after being hit once I didn't want to get hit again just sitting there in the middle. I called 911 right away and had Los Angeles Sheriff, LA County Fire and California Highway Patrol there at 3, 5 and 10 minutes.

In the car were my wife, our three kids (2, 3 and 5) and a high school exchange student. Not a scratch on any of us, no bruises or anything else.

We were in the right lane of 3 lane boulevard with not more than three feet between us and the curb to the right. Yes it was the truck driver's fault, but he hit us on the right rear bumper with the left corner of his front bumper. His trailers were full of dirt, another foot to the left and my kids could have been seriously injured. Two feet more to the left and some of us probably would have died. There is no doubt in our minds and hearts that the Lord had an angel watching over us this morning.

Here's the pics I took after everything settled down.

The intersection and the where we were, where we were pushed to and final spot.

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Our brave Explorer.

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The truck that hit us. He whacked us with his front bumper, front tire, fender, cab step, muffler, 2nd and 3rd axles.

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We were in this lane, he aimed between us and the palm trees. You can see his track through the median plants.

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I was going to take the kids to Disneyland with some friends visiting from Barcelona (Spain), but I just called a cab and went home after this and had them get another ride to visit the mouse. Spent the rest of the day dealing with the insurance, lining up a rental car and many acts of spontaneous kid hugging.

Just remember anything can hit you when you never expect it. Be sure to always leave your loved ones with a smile.
 
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Wow Dan, glad to see it was only property damage and nothing worse. :eek: The Explorer sure got munched.

Oh...and I moved the thread for you. ;)
 
Dan, I'm so glad to hear you only have to deal with the pain of insurance, and rental cars etc. that can all be dealt with.

Thank goodness no one was hurt :thumb:

Give them kids and your wife a hug from all of us too :wave:
 
Wow:eek:! You aren't kidding you had an angel looking over you. Thankfully everyone is ok:thumb:. Objects can be replaced but people can't.
 
Dan,
Thankfully you're all in good shape. The explorer deserves to be repaired. It did it's job very well!

Also, I'm an ex trucker and ex trucking manager. While the driver did screw up by carrying too much speed, he did a good job in the end, aiming for that gap and minimizing the damage.
 
glad you came out of it unscathed:) so did the trucker get a ticket or just a slap on the wrist? in michigan you would be the one having insurance troubles.
 
Whew!!!!!!!!!:eek::eek:
Yep, that there Explorer did a heck of a good job of protecting its occupants! :thumb::thumb:
It is obvious from your explanation it is the trucker's fault, but he did good in a fraction of a second finding an escape route instead of a full on impact! :eek:
Good thing God wasn't on break eh????
Yep, we all need (so sad that we do) a wake up call such as this from time to time to remind us of the importance of the day and people.
 
Way back in '92 I was stopped behind a city bus at a light one January morning. The light changed, the bus pulled away and then stopped about 30' later. I started and stoped as well and all of a sudden I'm about 4' further into the intersection. A driver hadn't noticed the bus stopping and ran right into the back of my truck. How I realized it had happened was that I looked up and saw the guy shaking his head... my thoughts went something like this...

'hey, that's an airbag... he Hit me!!?!?!!!'

long story short, it really does happen in an instant.

I initially refused treatment, but found that whiplash can be a real bear. I wound up with two ribs out of joint A neighbor of mine is an osteopath, and he got me realigned, but I still feel it when I overdo things on occasion. So don't ignore it if anyone in the car is achy, it can be something serious that adrenalin is masking right now.
 
Glad you all are all right. In traffic, anything can happen.
Recently, on our local by-pass, a divided four lane, a car came over a rise, on my side, heading right at me. Brain went into hyper-speed and I cut to the right out of her way. Better, I figured (very quickly) a bad sideswipe than head-on with both at 60 mph. I pulled over and called 911. Dunno if they got her.
 
Way back in '92 I was stopped behind a city bus at a light one January morning. The light changed, the bus pulled away and then stopped about 30' later. I started and stoped as well and all of a sudden I'm about 4' further into the intersection. A driver hadn't noticed the bus stopping and ran right into the back of my truck. How I realized it had happened was that I looked up and saw the guy shaking his head... my thoughts went something like this...

'hey, that's an airbag... he Hit me!!?!?!!!'

long story short, it really does happen in an instant.

I initially refused treatment, but found that whiplash can be a real bear. I wound up with two ribs out of joint A neighbor of mine is an osteopath, and he got me realigned, but I still feel it when I overdo things on occasion. So don't ignore it if anyone in the car is achy, it can be something serious that adrenalin is masking right now.



Good advise Ned.... Glad too that everybody was safe. I've heard stories of California dirvers!;)
 
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