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September 8, 2002
So. My plan yesterday was to drive up to Arlington to visit Pete, Melissa, and Emily. A quick trip. I was gonna go see their new house, spend the night, and come back home today. Best laid plans...
I certainly wasn't gonna total my car. I'm fine. Really. See? I'm posting this page so it must be true.
I had the classic "you've seen it on 20/20" Ford Explorer/Firestone Tire tread-separation roll-over accident about 60 miles north of Austin. This was about 3 miles south of Belton. The tread separated off the right-rear tire and I couldn't keep the car under control. I was doing 70 (the speed limit) when the tire blew. I might've had a chance if I hadn't been using the cruise control. But no way to tell. The tire went out and I started to pull over. I had to brake slightly to disengage the cruise and that was the end of that.
Sidenote:
If I'd thought to turn the cruise off with my thumb, things might've been okay but that didn't happen. Because that's not how I usually disengage the cruise. I usually brake. So, I did what I always do. At least...it's what I do 98% of the time when I disengage the cruise.
So, the car started swerving back and forth from the right shoulder to the left and back into the two regular lanes of traffic. I thought I'd gotten the car under control for a fraction of a second and then it spun to the left a full 180 degrees and I found myself facing the traffic behind me. At that point I could hear my tires squealing as I was skidding...the tires were still turning forward while the car was now travelling backward! I could see the cars and trucks headed in my direction as they were swerving and trying to slow down in an effort to avoid me! The car started drifting back to the right to the point that I was now skidding perpendicular to traffic and was facing the southbound lanes. As the car got to the end of its skid, it started to roll over onto the driver's side...back toward the oncoming traffic. (Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, right?!?!) As it was falling over, I thought about an accident my aunt had when she and her husband were driving an 18-wheeler. That accident must've happened at least 6 or 7 years ago (maybe even longer). The truck rolled over and her husband got a terrible burn on his arm as it was dragged against the pavement. I didn't want that to happen to me so I reached up and braced my left hand against the upper part of the door frame as the car fell over. I managed to keep my body from slamming into the pavement by doing that. The window broke out below me...probably because the side-view mirror folded into it as the car hit the ground. Bracing against the door frame is probably the thing that saved me from any sort of bad injury. If I hadn't done that, my head would've probably bounced off the pavement! There's no way I could've held myself off the ground if I'd kept both hands holding onto the steering wheel. Amazing that I thought of my aunt's accident in that split second, eh?
Anyway, the car only ended up moving another few inches after it rolled onto its side. As everything came to a stop, the roof was facing the northbound traffic. Somehow, the car managed to stay on the main surface of the pavement throughout the swerving and skidding. I suspect if I'd hit the lip of the road, it would've started tumbling over. My main fear when I finally came to a stop was that one of the cars behind me would crash into me. Thankfully, everyone behind me managed to come to a stop without hitting me or any of the other cars on the road and nobody was hurt. None of the other cars or trucks were damaged at all. I unbuckled my seat belt (no air bag so didn't have to deal with that) and rolled down the passenger window (power windows...I'd thought to turn off the ignition and then had to turn it back to get the window down) so I could stand up and look out.
Make no doubt about it...I got lucky. Very very lucky.
At least 10 people came rushing up to the car and I assured them all I was fine. There were lots of questions...people asking if there were any children or other passengers in the car. I told them I was travelling alone and that I was fine. One woman started insisting that I crawl out the passenger window but I told her that wasn't going to work. I could just see myself falling off the car and breaking an ankle! Another woman said she was small enough that she could jump in and help me out! Thankfully, someone else suggested we try to open the tailgate. I grabbed a few things (thinking about all the stories I've read where expensive things walk away from accident sites while the victims are being attended) and made my way to the back. I unlocked the tailgate and it opened right up. So, I stepped out and closed it again. A woman who'd been near the front of the car came running over, said she was a paramedic and started feeling me up! She was concerned that I might have some sort of internal injuries but I kept insisting I was fine. She was very concerned that I might be in shock but was finally convinced that I really was okay. The only thing I could find wrong at that point was a small scrape on my elbow that didn't even warrant a band-aid! I decided later that I probably got that by rubbing against the pavement as I was trying to get out of the seat belt.
The number of people who immediately showed concern and tried to help was quite gratifying. And, there were an amazing number of emergency personnel on the scene within moments: the paramedic, an off-duty policeman travelling with his wife and small daughter, and at least one fireman. The policeman and fireman were not from the area...just travelling through...but they were both wearing t-shirts imprinted with badges and insignias identifying their affiliations. I'm guessing they wear that sort of clothing all the time when they're off-duty for just this sort of situation. The policeman did his best to find the fuel cut-off switch to make sure nothing worse would happen. I don't know if he found it. Several people had called 911 and there were 3 or 4 police cars on the scene within a couple of minutes. A fire truck arrived about 3 minutes later and an ambulance within another 3 minutes. I managed to crash just past an off-ramp so even though I blocked traffic for about 25-30 minutes, the backup wasn't too bad. The people directly behind me could get around on both shoulders and the ones further back were quickly diverted to the frontage road. A man from Las Vegas came over with his name and contact information written on a napkin to say he'd been right behind me and witnessed the whole thing. Even though lots of people stopped, he was the only one who left his information. The paramedic woman left as soon as the ambulance arrived. The cop left once the Belton police had traffic under control. I wish I'd gotten his name. He and his wife were very kind. At some point, after the traffic was under control and we were waiting for the tow truck (the paramedics from the ambulance were checking me out and the policemen and firemen were filling out reports), this big bear of a guy came up to me and asked if I really was okay. He wasn't one of the uniformed guys and I didn't see where he came from. I told him I really was and he said I was very lucky...that he probably wouldn't have made it. He then asked me for a hug so I gave him one. "God bless you," he said as he walked away. 'Dunno what was up with that! Anyway, my blood pressure was a very healthy 118/83 but my pulse was racing quite a bit (it was about 110). One of the paramedics jokingly asked if I was excited about something. I said I imagined I was having a bit of an adrenalin rush and he allowed as how that was probably true! I remembered to check my pulse about an hour later and it was still up around 80. It took a few more hours to get back to normal.
The firemen were milling about waiting on the tow truck and decided to try and get the car uprighted on their own. They rocked it back and forth but couldn't get it to roll over. They got a bit concerned that it might actually roll onto the roof so they stopped that effort after about 4 heaves. At that point, I noticed that the windshield was cracked near the lower left-hand corner. I don't think it cracked until the firemen went after the car, though! (Not sure on that point. It's just a feeling I got since I hadn't noticed the crack before then.) By the way, the front driver's side window was the only one that broke. The two other windows on the driver's side were fine. And, the windshield was the only one that cracked. The tow truck arrived after a few minutes and the driver got busy...real quick. As soon as he had the car back on its wheels, I tried the door and it opened right up. I got my insurance info for the policeman writing up the report and got a few more things out of the car. As soon as the truck driver had it up on the bed of the truck, we took off! I introduced myself and he said his name was "Bulldog...er...David." 'Made me laugh. He was exactly what you'd expect someone named Bulldog to be. Big guy...thick beard...lots of tattoos! He asked where I wanted to go and I told him I'd just go to where ever he was taking the car. He said there wasn't anything there (like phones and such) so I asked for suggestions. He took me to a gas station with a food mart at the edge of town and lowered the bed of the tow truck so I could get the rest of my crap out of the car. I shoved it all in a couple of garbage bags. He took off and I tried to call my sister Jennie in Austin. No answer at her place or on her cell phone so I tried calling my friend Esther. No answer there, either. So, I decided to wait a bit and started trying to arrange the crap in the garbage bags. I wanted to see if I could throw any of it away. Sadly, there was not much I could toss. Thankfully, Jennie called me back within a couple of minutes.
By the way, I have yet to mention the fact that the accident was all Jennie's fault. No, really....it was. She called me on Thursday to ask when I was going to leave for Arlington. I told her and she insisted that I remember to take her cell phone number with me in case I needed her to come to my rescue. She called again on Friday reminding me to take her number. I laughed and asked what...exactly...she would do if I did need help and she said she'd come pick me up. She's never expressed any sort of concern for me before when I was headed out of town. So...you do see how it's all her fault, right? Heh.
Anyway, she thought I was pulling her leg. I'm not sure what made her decide that I was telling the truth but she ended up believing me, quickly cancelled her plans to see a movie with one of her friends, and came to my rescue. As promised.
As for the car...I don't know if the insurance company will total it out or not. It didn't appear to have any damage to the frame. All the doors opened and closed without any problems and the wheels all seemed to be aligned just perfectly. It did leak something out of the engine area as the tow truck pulled it back upright. It looked like radiator fluid, though, so it might've just leaked out of the over-flow reservoir. I didn't open the hood so have no idea if there was any other damage to the engine area. I won't hear anything for a few days. There was considerable damage to the body along the driver's side and that's the sort of thing that's rather expensive to fix so maybe I'll get a break. Jennie joked that I have the car that just won't die! I've been looking into replacing my Explorer for a few months now. The prospect of a rather dismal trade-in value is one of the main reasons I haven't done anything about it, though. If they total out the car, I'll get maximum return!
The thing I'm most annoyed about, though, is that I didn't take any pictures! I had my camera with me the whole time and didn't think to take a photo 'til I'd been sitting at the gas station waiting for Jennie for about 30 minutes. By then it was way too late.
So...injury inventory:
The accident happened around 1:45. Jennie picked me up around 3:40 and we drove out to Mom's and Dad's house where I took temporary possession of their pick-up. I sent them an email message (they're out of town) and got home around 8:30. Whew. 'Been driving for about 22 years now and this is my first accident. Not a bad record, I guess.
By the way...these were not Firestone tires. I've been keeping a fairly keen eye on the Explorer roll-over story, though (what with owning an Explorer and all), and have seen several reports about non-Firestone tires having the same sorts of problems. I'd replaced the original tires about 4 or 5 years ago. These were some generic brand. And, the damaged tire was still fully inflated when all was said and done...it just didn't have any tread left on it. I'd checked the tire pressure when I gassed up and had added a couple pounds of air to the tire before leaving home. It looked fine when I aired it up.
So there you have it. A rather spectacular accident, eh?
Signing off for now...
