AF: Hello?
DS: Mom–this is going to sound weird, but don’t freak out. Yasmine wrecked her car, but I’m okay.
AF: Where are you? (sirens getting louder in the background) Is Yasmine okay? Is anybody hurt? Were you wearing your seatbelt?
DS: Yasmine’s not hurt, and yes, I was wearing my seatbelt. I think we’re near the movie theater on Bangerter Highway.
AF: What about Hanna? Is she okay?
DS: Um, Hanna’s hurt; she’s got a bump on her head. She was sitting on my lap. They’re taking us to Jordan Valley Hospital. (yelling in background, multiple sirens)
AF: What’s the address?
DS: (Yelling) Can someone tell my mom the address to the hospital? (A voice in the background, apparently the paramedic, shouts out the address).
AF: I’ll be there as soon as I can. Be sure to have the paramedics check you out. Call me if you need me. I’m leaving now.
The Details:
DS is x-rayed for a broken nose as he’s bleeding profusely, but appears unscathed, surprising the doctor. His girlfriend, Hanna, has a huge knot on her head and her eye is blackened and swollen shut; a CAT scan reveals a relatively minor skull fracture and a possible cracked vertebrae. She’s transfered to Primary Children’s Hospital for observation. Gabi is transported to University Hospital, as her father is a university employee, to have two cuts sutured. Sybille, an exchange student living with Gabi, is suffering from shock and is transported with Gabi to University Hospital.
- Hanna was not in a seatbelt; she was in my son’s lap.
- There were too many people in the car–6 teens and five seatbelts. Yasmine had offered to take Gabi’s brother home since she was already going that way and the person he came with lived near the theater complex.
- Once they got on the highway this same person–the other driver–cut Yasmine off as she attempted to pass his car. It remains to be seen if it was just careless driving or some kind of bad joke gone wrong.
- Yasmine attempted to avoid a collision when the car cut her off, but lost control as her car fishtailed across the road–first to the left toward the center and then to the right off the road. It went through a fence, hit a ditch, and rolled once or twice through another fence, finally coming to rest upright.
- They were amazingly lucky. Even Hanna, though her injuries are worse. As she was not wearing a seatbelt, she could have very easily been thrown from the car and likely killed.
I have always emphasized to my children that they must never ride in a car without wearing a seatbelt. This has always been sacrosanct. They know that everyone must wear one; nobody, for hell’s sake, sits on ANYBODY’s lap. And yet, that sense of invincibility, the idea that “it won’t happen to me,” caused one of them to forgo safety and go for what seemed expedient at the time.
I’m so shaken. I know all of these teenagers well, and know it could have turned out so differently. I guess maybe I got the phone call I’d want to get, rather than one from the hospital or police.
Knitting on, with confidence and hope, through all crises.*
Bless EZ.
*that link has many charming references and links to Elizabeth Zimmerman
Comments 17
Oh, sweetie. Thank goodness everything is okay under the circumstances, but STILL. So scary. I’m dreading when Hannah starts driving next year.
Posted 30 Oct 2007 at 7:18 pm ¶Whew! It’s not something you want to have happen, but they’ve learned a very valuable lesson. I had a near-accident when I was driving too fast in the snow when I was 17, and it was probably a good thing to have had such a close call - I never drove like that again.
Posted 30 Oct 2007 at 11:02 pm ¶migod. I am so glad it was not worse. I send you many hugs, sis…
Posted 30 Oct 2007 at 11:21 pm ¶Oh how scary! I’m so glad it didn’t turn out worse than it did.
Posted 31 Oct 2007 at 12:46 am ¶and that’s it…against their better judgement…sigh. so glad there were no serious injuries. hopefully some serious lessons.
Posted 31 Oct 2007 at 6:17 am ¶OMG! I am soooo thankful that no one was hurt worse. How scary for you all!
Hugs!
Posted 31 Oct 2007 at 6:45 am ¶Thank God! Oh, thank God.
Posted 31 Oct 2007 at 8:16 am ¶The more teenagers in a group, the dumber they all get (not that I wasn’t guilty of some major stupidity in youth). Thank goodness everyone was relatively ok- working at University hospital I saw WAY worse from similar circumstances. Hugs to you, phone calls like that make you sick.
Posted 31 Oct 2007 at 8:24 am ¶Oh, I’m so sorry for your anguish at that phone call. I’m glad everyone is reasonably well. It could’ve been so much worse …
Posted 31 Oct 2007 at 9:48 am ¶Bless your thumpin gizzard!! Lordy, I know you must be shaken. Thankfully they’re ok and maybe a big lesson was learned.
Peace
Posted 31 Oct 2007 at 1:58 pm ¶Oh, sweetie! What a horrible Halloween trick! Here’s hoping that you, DS, and DS’s friends all get lots of treats for getting through this. When I think through the “what ifs,” I am just so glad that the kids are all going to be okay. Big hugs to you and yours.
Posted 31 Oct 2007 at 6:07 pm ¶Yikes! On the plus side, maybe this one incident will be enough to scare all of the kids involved into exercising more caution when driving — if that happens, it could be a good thing for all of them. It’s so fortunate that they have this chance to learn from this without having suffered much more serious consequences. And I’m glad that they chose to call you. That says something!
Posted 01 Nov 2007 at 7:51 am ¶That is really scary. So glad nothing worse happened. I once fell asleep at the wheel and rolled the car I was driving (thankfully I was wearing a seat belt and was miraculously not hurt) and I can’t bring it up around my mom ever. Too scary. I am willing to bet your son will never ride without everyone in a seat belt ever again.
Posted 01 Nov 2007 at 4:27 pm ¶Hopefully a lesson learned. Sometimes we will only learn the hard way. Thank goodness it wasn’t an even harder way.
Posted 02 Nov 2007 at 3:18 pm ¶I am so glad it wasn’t worse and truly a call no parent want’s to get. Like with all ‘not so good’ things that we do / go through all we can do is try to find the lesson and learn from them. Hoping the best for you DS and his friends.
Posted 04 Nov 2007 at 12:08 am ¶Whew!! I am glad that the kids are all ok. These children makes old ladies of us, don’t they?
Posted 04 Nov 2007 at 3:17 pm ¶Thank God they are alright, relatively. I know that no matter how many times I tell them not to use cell phones, to wear seat belts, don’t steer with your knees (honestly! one of mine used to do that) they just do feel invincible. We will get through their childhoods and young adult years, just not with the sanity we entered them with.
Posted 05 Nov 2007 at 11:08 am ¶Post a Comment