I was on my way home from a job interview. I was driving north on Fort Campbell Boulevard aka 41A. I was in the right lane because I needed to hop on 24 to get home. I was approaching the light before the onramps for 24.
As I approached the light it turned green so I gave it some gas. I never saw her. The left lane had waved her through. She was already in the way so he let her go. I didn’t even have time to hit the brakes. I T-boned her.
I hit her so hard I spun her around and as she spun her back end hit the car in front of me. She only clipped him but it almost made him hit the guardrail. She ended up doing a 180 and the back end was down in a ditch. The only thing that stopped her was the front end of the F150 that was at the light.
I only remember hitting her and having something coming flying at me. We hit so hard my butt came off the seat and I hit my right knee on the steering column. It hurt like hell. I put the truck in park and got out. I limped over to her and there were people all around us. I pulled on her door handle but it wouldn’t budge.
I turned to the gentleman that had been in front of me and asked him to yank the door open. He got it open and the lady was dazed. I told her to sit there and not move. I went back to my truck and grabbed my phone and called 911.
I decided to have an ambulance sent in case my knee was injured more than I thought it was because of the adrenaline rush. As I was limping back to the car I hit I noticed a lady in BDU’s assisting.
She was a nurse and the lady I hit was bleeding from the back of her head. I hit that 2001 Taurus so hard I popped the rear passenger armrest off the door and it hit her in the head and cut her open. The Major took charge. She started giving orders to people to get things for her. She had a first aid kit in her truck and had one of the witnesses get it for her. She talked to the lady and found out the important things. Amazingly she hadn’t lost consciousness.
When the ambulance got there I told them the door had to be yanked open and that it was probably the armrest that hit her. They took her to the hospital for stitches and checked my knee. Since I was walking on it and it wasn’t too swollen they told me to get it checked if it hurt too bad.
I called Robin, who was somewhere behind me and told her where I was. The truck was drivable and amazingly the airbags didn’t deploy. I was pissed about that because I hit that Taurus hard enough to spin her. Taurus’ have side impact reinforcement and I hit her directly on the door jams between the front and back doors. I totaled her car because the back axle was snapped. I couldn’t understand how I didn’t deploy the airbags. I was beginning to think that the repair shop in Louisville didn’t reset them right. It turned out that I needed 3mm more to have the airbags deploy. Which translates into 1-2 MPH faster than I was going.
I was going to drive it home but when I made right turns the bumper was rubbing on the tire so I had it towed to the repair shop. It would have been stupid to drive it home and then back to Clarksville Tennessee to get it repaired. From where I was home was about 30 minutes away. From home to the repair shop is about an hour.
There was about $2500 worth or damage to it. I, once again, got a new sliding window, reconditioned front bumper, grill, new headlight and turn signal assembly’s, new windshield, they welded some points on the front that were never welded after the first accident, got an alignment, the hood hinges were realigned/replaced, and my tonneau cover was once again repaired.
I had them check the seat and seat belt to make sure they weren’t broken. I was afraid they were because I hit my knee on the steering column. I’m not sure what they did to the seat belt but it works 300% better than it used to. Fords have a nasty tendency to have screwy seat belts that lock when they aren’t supposed to.
Glad you got the job, but boy, what a way to get it! So sorry about your accident; you are so lucky you weren't hurt mroe than you were! Good write about an all too familiar situation in your life! I am so sorry; hope these accidents stop soon!
(((HUGS))) and much love, your friend in tx., karen lynn. :(
wishing you nothing but accident-FREE days ahead for you and your poor car!
