My Scary Experience!!!

As a fan of action movies and tv shows, I have seen my share of accident scenes, firey crashes and vehicles being blown to bits and pieces. I've seen scenes of people badly injured and in terrible pain, bleeding and broken. But I can always remind myself that it's just acting. It's just TV. It's just a movie. It can't affect you when you know it isn't real.

But it certainly can when it is real.

This is my story of the week.

On Tuesday morning, I was making my way down 4500 South on my way to work. It was about 8:30 am, and all was going well. The weather was nice, traffic wasn't bad at all, and I was excited about getting to work early so I could relax for a minute before delving into the day's work. That was until I saw the most traumatizing thing I've ever seen.

I was in the middle lane, a gold Grand Am in the lane to my left, about 1/2 a car length in front of me. In front of him was a young guy on a bullet bike. He was wearing a helmet and was obviously driving cautiously (which is rare to see these days). To our right, a large truck pulled into the lane, causing everyone to slow down. The bullet bike slowed, but slowed too quickly. Without having time to react, the Grand Am hit the back tire of the bike, causing it to fall to the side. Then, in the most unreal way, the Grand Am drove up and over the bike, driver and all. As the car drove over the bike and rider, the radiator and gas tank were both punctured, spraying fluids all over the road. Pieces of the bike were flying off all over and in a state of unbelief and shock, I stopped my car and simply screamed. I watched as the car cleared the bike and rider and stopped. The rider amazingly stood up in a state of delirium, and instantly fell flat on his back and began screaming in pain.

I quickly turned on my flashers and picked up my phone to call 911. 3 or 4 people were rushing to the rider's aide. When the dispatcher picked up, she asked for the address of the wreck and I told her. She then proceeded to give me directions on how to care for the injured rider. I had one person hold his head still and talk to him, while I searched for the bleeding wounds. We located his cell phone and a man called the rider's family to inform them of the accident. Within minutes two local police officers were on the scene, and not long after that, the ambulance arrived. They proceeded to assess the situation and the severity of the rider's wounds, which were pretty brutal.

The undercarriage of the car had shattered his helmet's visor, cutting gashes in his face. His left shoulder was dislocated and terribly bruised. His left leg was gashed open from ankle to hip. And his stomach and chest were badly bruised as well. They got him into the ambulance and rushed him off to the ER. After he was gone, I attempted to comfort the driver of the car that had hit him. I have never seen anyone in such a state of shock. He was barely coherent, he was shaking so much that I was amazed he could still hold onto his car keys. The officers couldn't get any information out of him. So I simply told him that everything was going to be okay, and that I saw the whole thing and knew it wasn't his fault, that there wasn't anything that could have been done. While still staring into space, he nodded. That was the only reaction I ever saw.

After filling out the witness forms and telling the officers what I had seen, I left to go to work. I was an hour late, but I definitely had a good excuse.

If there was one thing I learned from this is experience, it is this: HELMETS SAVE LIVES!!!!

If this guy had not been wearing one, his life would have ended right before my eyes. I have no doubt about that. He made the right choice when he hopped on his bike that morning, to wear a helmet. I have always felt very strongly about this, and this experience just solidified my feelings. PLEASE WEAR YOUR HELMET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't stress that enough.

So that was my story. It was an experience I never wanted to have, and I hope no one I know has to go through it.