Smashup 2007

[cleolinda]

Well, shit. My sister just got into a car wreck--someone hit her from behind on the interstate, and she's telling me (she's still out there, on the phone with me) that it's "really, really bad." She says that she herself is okay, "kind of sore," but that "the back of the car... is not the back of car anymore."

Here's the bad part: we can't get hold of our mother because she finally found a showing of POTC3 at a decent time of day and is taking what's probably her last chance to finally see the movie. And as much as I'd hate to drag her out of that, I'd do it. No, the problem is that I think she's turned her phone off, and we can't get her at all.

ETA: Okay, I called the theater and convinced the manager to go fish our parents out--"I am so sorry to ask you to do this--but they're in Pirates, there's probably not many people in there anyway"--and I've talked to Mom, and she's calling Sister Girl now. Apparently the front driver's seat broke off and fell into the back seat? Someone at the scene has suggested that Sister Girl could sue Toyota, let's put it that way. What happened was, a dog ran in front of a car, and the car swerved to miss it. My sister stopped and managed not to hit that car. The car behind her couldn't, and hit her. And apparently the damage to her car is pretty bad. She says she's not going to let the ambulance take her (which sounds grimly defiant out of context), but she did hit her head--she wanted to talk to Mom, the insurance-benefits guru, before she decided what else to do. That is to say, she'll get checked out, but she wanted momly advice before she got sucked into ER Purgatory.

ETA 2: Okay, Sister Girl's best friend is going to take her to the UAB ER and my parents will meet them there. Apparently there's some issue of bystanders helping my sister gather her things, which... doesn't bode well for the state of her car. Sister Girl has told Mom that it's totaled.

ETA 3: My mother's just spoken to Sister Girl's best friend, who says, and I quote, "The car doesn't have a trunk now."

Comments

[conejita-diabla.livejournal.com]

Bah....I just had basically the same thing happen to me a couple of weeks ago. I don't know how insurance works down there, but here it was not really a big deal. We filed a police report, then my insurance and his talked - since it was his fault, they had to cover all the costs, so I pay nothing for the repairs, they're paying for a rental car while mine's in the shop, and my chiro and massage treatments for my neck and back are being covered by them as well. Fingers crossed that she'll get the same...

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

*is wide-eyed*

I hope your sister stays OK.

I'm sorry this happened.

Signed,
a crash veteran myself
(so I know that's one of the worst sounds in the world)

[nc-bookworm.livejournal.com]

Oh sweetie! Make sure she gets checked out thoroughly at a local ER.

[riverchild.livejournal.com]

Oh crap, sorry to hear this. Do you know which cinema your mother's at? Maybe you could call them and ask that they send someone in to get her?

Also, although she says she's find, make sure SisterGirl sees a doctor.

[ladyhawke-wings.livejournal.com]

Sorry about the car, Cleo, but glad Sister girl sounds ok!

[editornia.livejournal.com]

I hope your sister doesn't have any lasting injuries from the crash... getting her to take a warm bath or shower fairly soon would be good, to ease any aches she'll have. Get her checked out by a doctor, too, just in case. It may be injured, but not hurt yet... Tuck her into bed with a few hot water bottles, and we'll all hope for the best... I'm sending (((((GOOD VIBES))))) to your sister, you, and your family. :)

Did the other driver stay at the scene? Was there a big pile-up?
Is your sister shaken/shakey? I know I would be...

Here's hoping (*crossing my fingers now*) you manage to get in touch with your mom real soon. :)

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I managed to call them and get them to pull my parents out despite my enormous dread of making phone calls. She did not sound happy.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Sadly, my sister's been in several accidents and/or wrecks--weirdly, they're almost never her fault; she just seems to have shit luck on the road--so she knows the minor injuries drill. The driver who caused the accident, the one in front who wasn't hit, didn't stay; the one who hit Sister Girl did. (And thanks. : )

[telophase.livejournal.com]

At least she's OK, so everything else can be dealt with somehow. :)

Thirding, fourthing, and fifthing the doctor recommendation - I have a friend who got in a car accident and was fine but sore afterward, but didn't listen to her doctors when they said REST, pushed herself (she was normally very active and couldn't stand not to go running or swimming), and ended up complicating her injuries, which went from just pulled muscles to stress fractures, which put her on crutches. So get her checked out, and make sure she does what the doctors say. :)

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I used to know a guy like that - this was a man who should never own a new car. XD All sorts of accidents, almost none of which were his fault. He just had the power of invisibility on the freeway or something.

[sfmarty.livejournal.com]

I am so sorry. Give Sister Girl our best wishes.

[riverchild.livejournal.com]

Good on ya for beating the phone dread. Mom might not be happy now, but this really isn't the sort of thing that can wait.

[angelene.livejournal.com]

1) I hope your sister is/will be okay.

2) I hope your mother gets her to the ER; both medically and insturance-wise, it's the only safe advice I feel like typing out. I don't mean to scare you, honest, but ER Purgatory is still better than Subdural Haematoma (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subdural_haematoma) Hell. Have her checked.

[cassildra.livejournal.com]

Please keep us updated. I hope Sister Girl is all right.

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

Jeez, that's scary. I'm glad she seems to be okay.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Well, it was just one of those things where it's like, look, there's the phone number right there on movietickets.com (which I already had a window open for). Every time people tell this story, are they going to end up with, "And [Cleo] couldn't even bring herself to call the theater?" So basically, I shamed myself into doing it.

[everstar3.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow. That sounds... not good. But it's better for the car to be totaled than Sister Girl. I hope she's okay.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I didn't want to say this initially until I found out whose fault it actually was, but I was actually on the phone with her when it happened--she said she wouldn't be home for another hour or so (she was coming in from out of state) and wanted me to order midnight HP tickets for her; she'd just remembered, and was afraid they'd sell out. I heard her stop mid-sentence and say, "Wow, I just about had a wreck there--" and there was some noise, like interference with the phone and her voice was distorted, and then it went dead. I think what happened was that "I almost had a wreck" was her *not* hitting the guy in front of her, and then the phone was knocked out of her hand when the other guy did hit her.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

She's definitely going. A friend is coming to pick her up and drive her back down here--she was coming in from out of state--and my parents are going to meet them there.

Knowing our luck, though--the last time she had to go to the ER for a car accident, she was treated, while my mother was standing there, by the woman my father is currently with. You know, the one he left my mother for. Awkward.

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

Jeezus. Well, I'm thinking good thoughts for her and her car, anyhow.

[dtwirler.livejournal.com]

Damn. I had an accident like this. Got rear-ended by a drunk on I77. Spun out and everything. Hope your sister stays OK.

[meinnim.livejournal.com]

Oh, man. I hope your sis checks out okay.

[malsperanza.livejournal.com]

Sheesh, hope your sister's ok.

I think small cars are designed these days to take the full impact and accordion. Front and back get smashed but the cage of the cab area is more rigid and (hopefully) stays intact. So the fact that the front seat ended up in the back seat *may* have been designed to help absorb impact.

I was rear-ended at high speed once by a drunk on the Jersey Turnpike. I was in a crappy little subcompact Ford. Car spun at an angle and whapped into the concrete wall of an overpass. So front and back were totally destroyed, but three of us inside got off light. (Of course without seatbelts we wouldn't have had faces left.)

[karadin.livejournal.com]

I was going to say make sure she gets checked out so that any problems later are covered by insurance, and whatever the circumstances, if you are hit from behind, that driver is at fault, but don't mention that she was on the phone at the time either ... glad she's okay.

[elisa0984.livejournal.com]

Best wishes for Sister Girl.