My Kids Mom

I watched a man get hit by a car yesterday. And not just bumped, HIT. Head over feet flying up 6 feet in the air and deadfalling back onto the pavement.

We had a scrapbooking evening planned for last night, and I needed some extra paper. I headed out to the store I needed to go to, and I had made it there with nothing to report. Almost.

So, if you click on that you can see the full picture. That’s my diagram of what happened to make explaining this a little bit easier. I (the red markings) was just slowing down about to turn right to turn into the parking lot of the scrapbook store (the dark blue X). I noticed a man (the purple markings) frantically waving at the buses across the street (the green markings) trying to catch them. He was obviously late and in a hurry. I noticed him begin to run out into the street, and I turned my head to turn the corner. I didn’t realize there was a car behind/next to me (sort of in my blind spot) until I heard the screetch of his brakes. I whipped my head around and all I saw were legs flying up in the air, and then feet laying down on the ground just on the other side from where I could see of the car who hit him (the light blue markings). Adrenalin kicked in right away, and I whipped into the parking lot and ran out of my vehicle. I ran back to my vehicle because I realized that I didn’t turn it off, I wasn’t even sure if I’d put it in park. I shut it off, grabbed my phone, and ran over. As I was waiting to cross the street the man who was driving the car got out and the second bus had stopped, and the bus driver and the other driver were helping the man to his feet, much to my shock. That man FLEW. He was shaking profusely, and he was just stunned. Another vehicle stopped (who had witnessed the accident from behind) and suggested that the driver and the pedestrian exchange information. The pedestrian insisted he was ok, and that it was his fault, because he ran out into the street. He said he really just needed to go catch his bus. The other witness and I insisted that he was in shock, and that he ought to go sit down and just take it easy for a few minutes, and he said he’d do that on his bus. What could have been so important that he was willing to not only get hit by a car, but also to risk serious injury after the fact and not seek medical attention or at very least exchange information?? So, him and the bus driver walked off. The bus sat there for a few minutes, so I hope the bus driver called in the accident or did something, anything, to convince this man to get medical attention. I’m SURE he was in shock and not able to make rational decisions, and I really regret not getting the information for him, and the driver, who I think was a little bit in shock also, as it took him a minute or two to get out of the vehicle. After they walked away, I looked over the man’s vehicle with him, and it was smashed. His hood was crinkled – so badly there was a chip out of the paint, his windsheild was smashed as though there was a fist size rock that hit it (it was low, so he could still drive and see) and a huge dent in the “arm” part of the windshield – you know, the metal part that surrounds the windshield. I just stood there shocked at how hard he must have hit that man. The guy went up, over his vehicle, head over feet. I’ve never seen anything like it, and the image is going over and over again in my mind. I am feeling like a big idiot now, because I don’t think I reacted properly. We (the people around the pedestrian) should have just phoned an ambulance/police/etc. I’m sure that he was hurt. He was limping as he walked away, and I bet he can’t get out of bed this morning. His body got wrenched as he flew through the air. Also, he flew up pretty high, and fell back down on the pavement, I’m sure he has a concussion or something. I just feel dumb because it was so obvious that he was in shock, and we should have made decisions for him that he wasn’t able to rationally make. I know if it were me, I probably would have reacted the same way as him, but I would have appreciated if someone sought medical attention for me, because surely he’s going to need some sort of physio or at very least massage therapy after that kind of collision. Also, the man’s car had more than 1000$ damage – so it needs to be reported to the police. Which means they need each other’s information in order to do that. I can’t believe I didn’t even get the man’s liscence plate!! Arg. So when I got home, I phoned the cops to ask them if I needed to report it, and kind of said to me “So you have no one’s name, no information, nothing, except for where the incident took place? What do you want us to do with that?” And I said “Well, dude! That’s why I’m phoning you! To know if from a police perspective, if my information is valuable!!” Anyways, he wasn’t rude about it, thankfully. After we got talking a bit, and he realized that there was lots of damage to the vehicle, and that I was sure that the guy got hurt, he said that the people involved in the accident should be reporting it, and so it would be helpful to have my information too. If they don’t report it, then my information is useless, but I don’t know whether they will or not, so I should, just in case they do. Which, I plan to do sometime today.

After I walked away I headed into the scrapbook store and realized that I was just shaking like a leaf. I still can’t believe what I saw! The gals at the store asked me “How are you?” And I’m all “Well, I’m better than the guy who just got hit by a car out there!!” And there were like “REALLY?!? We heard the screetch, what happened?” So of course I relayed what happened, when all of a sudden a lady I know popped out from behind a shelf and was like “Hey! How are you?” My brain couldn’t handle all of this at once, it was weird. So, I browsed the store for a while so that I could calm down enough to drive home. I’ve never witnessed an accident before, never mind something as scary as this, so it’s really on my mind. And how I reacted is on my mind too.

Anyways, that was my drama for the day yesterday. Hopefully it doesn’t amount to anything, and everyone is ok, and goes on with life! Yikes!

On a lighter note, I got two scrapbook pages done last night! Well, almost done, I just need to finish embellishing them! They’re of Lil’ Miss’s 1st birthday! It was fun!!!

Have you heard of The Secret? My sister made valid points about it yesterday here.

Go, now…read!