Hit and Run

The Sunday before school started I was driving home from visiting my twin Candace in south Georgia. I was making great time on I-75 until we came to a complete stop around McDonough due to a nine car pile up on the highway. After sitting on the highway in 93 + degree heat, my poor little car started overheating and I ended up having to turn off the AC. It was pretty brutal being stuck on the highway with the sun blazing through my windows and not so much as a breeze to help cool me down. I was exhausted, frustrated, dehydrated, and sick of driving! When Linc called to tell me the accident wouldn't be cleared for another hour, I almost lost it! We finally began inching along, but I was so hot that when I got to the first exit I got off to find some water.

After making a pit stop in smalltown nowhere Georgia, I turned my GPS on and attempted to find an alternate way home. There was no way I could sit through all that traffic again, and my AC was finally working properly! I headed down the two lane road going a comfortable 50mph (5 under the speed limit) when the unthinkable happened. A man in a red SUV, who should have stopped at the HUGE stop sign in front of him, plowed right through it just as I was about to pass through the intersection. He was making a left hand turn and had a stop sign. I was headed straight and did not. With hardly any time to think, and his car only a few feet from mine, I managed to slam on my breaks, jerk my car around, and narrowly avoided T-boning his car. I was seconds from a head on collision that surely would have totaled my car and probably caused me a lot of injuries. If only it had ended there!

Unfortunately for the person behind me, they were side swiped by the man in the red SUV who continued to speed on through the intersection. This somehow propelled them forward and right into the back of my little Jetta. Thank GOD I was still moving forward enough that the impact of the crash was not too severe and I managed to stop the car before hitting anything else. I sat in shock for a moment before I realized that the man in the red SUV still had not stopped! After nearly killing me, side swiping another vehicle, and causing a nasty wreck, the person had the nerve to KEEP ON DRIVING!!! Thank goodness there were witnesses to what happened, and one good Samaritan even followed the jerk, took down his license plate number, and followed him to his neighborhood. She returned with the info just as I found my voice to call the police.

Four officers were dispatched to help us and two went to go find the man in the red SUV. They went to his house, found the car, but (of course) he did not answer the door. The other lady and I were so lucky that after all that had happened, neither of us required medical attention. I was more hurt emotionally than anything else and had a hard time staying composed. Two hours later, the woman who ended up hitting me and I were able to leave with an official Hit and Run police report. Despite the crash, both of our cars were still working and we were both able to drive away. She was headed to Kentucky, I headed straight for my parent's house!

I bawled the entire way there- half of me still scared to death and the other half just so grateful at the actual outcome. I have never been in a crash before and it is not something I would like to relive ever again. What must have only been seconds in real life, played out in my mind over and over again like a bad dream. I can recall the exact feeling of pure dread when I realized the man wasn't stopping and I was headed right for him. At the speed I was going, I can only imagine the horrible outcome if I had actually hit him square on. Even today, I am still so angry at that man and hope the police are able to find him and give him the punishment he deserves. We are waiting on the insurance people to appraise the damage to my car and hope to have it fixed sometime soon. It may not look so bad from the photo, but the way the lady hit my car caused significant damage to the underside of the car. I was not thrilled when the repair shop gave me an estimate!

There are a million if onlys that run through my head daily- if only I hadn't left Candace's house at that time, if only there hadn't been an accident, if only the Jetta hadn't overheated, if only I didn't need to get water, if only, if only, if only. BUT...after all that...the good news is I am alive, my car, although ugly, still works, and I learned a valuable lesson in patience. I hope I don't have to learn a lesson like this ever again. Ever.