Driving slowly down the expressway because the rain is lashing down, I find myself musing on a car crash I had in California 5 years ago. https://thequietripple.com/2015/02/11/off-roading/

The next thing I know a car overtaking me skids and swerves broadside in front of me. It takes a millisecond for me to slam straight into it. The shock is immense, the bang and crumple is very loud. Some physics vector catapults me across the expressway, I think my foot is still on the accelerator as it happened so fast and I smash into the crash barriers. The second shock is worse than the first and bits of car spray off in all directions. Physics takes over again and we career down and across the expressway luckily in the direction of the hard shoulder. The car is now lurching from side to side with the wheels loosing contact with the road. I am so scared that it will flip. I have no control over the car, the steering and brakes have been wrecked. We grind to a halt some 70 meters from the point of original collision. The car is steaming and hissing and the alarm has gone off. This was utterly terrifying. I thought I was going to die.

However miraculously I am unharmed!

Liquids pour out, I fear fire.

People stop to make sure I am Ok. I ask about the other driver and apparently he is Ok too. Thank God.

Debris scattered all over.

The police arrive quickly and are super efficient. A fire truck and ambulances also show up. I am not hurt but I am very shaken. A police man asks me to write down my phone number but I can’t. My hand is shaking too much! There are language difficulties but I have already called Arisa who arrives quickly. She is wonderful and the police are as pleased to see her as I am. The other driver is taken off in an ambulance. He has just phoned me to apologize. Nice guy, he has to stay at home for a week but will be Ok.

With Arisa’s help we establish what happened with the police and then they call a tow truck.

Arisa drives me home. Thanks Arisa.

I have a little lie down.

On the bright side, I never liked that truck. It was too big, heavy and clumsy for Okinawa and guzzled gas. I was also going to buy a new set of tires this week, so the crash saved me a lot of money!

Good luck has followed me throughout my life. Well, not so lucky to be in the accident but given the shocking violence and power of the crash, I am certainly lucky to be alive.