Eric's Very Sad Car Story # 2

The '95 Saturn SL2

In June of 1995, my first saturn was killed. I must have again offended some great karmic gods, since my replacement car, a '95 Saturn SL2, was killed on April Fool's Day, 1996. (Really. This is no joke.)

Looks ok from the front, mostly.

I had finished work, and was on my way to pick up Kristin at the light rail station. I pulled onto the onramp, and traffic was pretty light; there was nobody on the onramp, quite unusual. I zipped down to stop at the metering light. The light turned green, and then there must have been a crash, because the next thing I knew I was flat on my back. I probably blacked out, because I don't remember the impact at all.

Not so good towards the back

I remember that I was laying almost horizontal, so I sat up, that hurt, I laid back down. (That sounds too controlled. As I tried to sit up, my body said no, and put myself back down for me.) I tried again, but slower, and that was better. I looked up, and saw that my car was facing traffic in the lanes I would have been merging with. I wasn't in the traffic lane, but it's still pretty scary to be facing the wrong way with respect to traffic, even if you're not in the traffic lane.

Car seen from left rear corner

Given that I didn't seem dead or seriously injured, I sat up, and tried the door. It locked during the impact. I unlocked it, and got out. I walked back just enough to see that my car was dead, and that all my stuff in the trunk was all over the place. After that, I went over to the Dodge Caravan that hit me, to make sure that nobody there was seriously hurt. After deciding that nobody was dead or bleeding or anything, one of the cars passing us on the onramp asked if we needed anything, and I got him to go down to one of the call boxes, and call for help.

Car seen from right rear corner

I think I sort of wandered around in a haze for a little bit. I went back to my car to get the registration, a pad of paper, and a pen, so I could start writing stuff down. I wrote down my info, and gave it to the other guy. He let me have his license, and I copied down that info. The Caravan had the guy driving it, and his daughter. He seemed really calm about the whole thing. She was not having as much of a good time. Neither of them had any obvious injuries, certainly no bleeding or open wounds.

The flattened driver's seat

Perhaps surprisingly, my car didn't lose any fluids. Even though the gas tank is in the back, it didn't blow up, or spring a leak. The Caravan was leaking antifreeze for sure, and possibly more. No windows or anything else was broken. The back of my car was sort of obliterated. The front of his was smashed, and leaking.

Trunk, seen from rear

Soon, a fire truck showed up, and the first thing they had me do was stop moving around. They asked if I had any pain, and I did, in my neck and back. After hearing this, the fire guy had me sit down and stop moving. I got a temporary neck brace, which they kept on until I was strapped down to a board for the ambulance trip to the hospital.

Trunk with plastic showing former size

Somewhere during this, the Highway Patrol showed up. I know that he got my license and registration, and that eventually he came back with the day, time of accident, Highway Patrol phone number, and his officer ID number written down on my registration. I only hazily recall anything he said to me. Since I was imobilized by then, I couldn't really watch anything that was going on... Either then, or when I was being moved into the ambulance, I remember him saying "Your car will be at Redwood Estates", but that didn't really mean anything to me at the time. As I was being wheeled into the ambulance, the paramedics were looking over my bag of juggling stuff, and asked what I did for a living. I told them "software engineer", and they were still confused what all the juggling stuff was for.

Closeup of bumper

About then, I wished I had a camera, so I could take pictures of the scene, before everything got towed away. (And also so that I would have pictures for the web page. I am such a geek!)

A disembodied tail light

After getting stuck in the ambulance, underway to the hospital, I got the paramedics to try relay a message to Kristin, since she would have no idea where I was, if I wasn't there to pick her up. Riding in an ambulance is a particularly strange experience. There are no windows that you can see, certainly if you're immobilized. Lots of techno medical equipment, and the cheery face of the paramedic. Both me and the girl from the other car were strapped down for the ride. The ambulance is such a cushy ride that you can't really tell where you are, or where you're going. When they wheeled me out at the hospital, I felt like I had been transported to some warehouse somewhere. I think I had expected to see the sky when getting out, since that's what I last saw on my way into the ambulance. No such luck. The roof was some sort of industrial iron lattice sort of thing. Very Structural.

Trunk, again, a little further back

After being wheeled into the emergency room, a doctor pretty quickly came by, decided my neck and back weren't broken, and got me unstrapped. I then got sent to the waiting area, where I tried calling Kristin's work number to leave a message about what was going on. (This will be revisited later...) The paramedics brought my bag of juggling stuff, my bag of inline skate safety pads, Kristin's pair of skates in, and the car stereo, and left them in a big pile for me. Anything they could pry loose was brought with me, so it wouldn't get stolen from the car. I was seen by one of the triage nurses, to take all my info, and then was directed down to the Urgent Care Center. I guess I was no longer an Emergency case. I asked for help with my stuff, and I got a wheelchair to use as a trolley for the stuff.

Stuff retrieved from the car

I wheeled over to the Urgent Care Center, gave them my paperwork, and then got to wait even more. Here, I called my mom, which eventually turned out to be a Very Good Thing To Do. It was at least an hour before I was seen here, just lots of waiting around. The Urgent Care Center was really busy that evening. After a long time, Kristin and my mom showed up.

Here, I found out the fun story about How Kristin Found Out Eric Was In The Emergency Room. In the ambulance, I had given the paramedics Kristin's name, and where I was supposed to be picking her up. (The accident was half an hour before I was supposed to pick her up.) They said they would try to get at least a message to the Transit Police, to let her know what was up. Now, between the ambulance and the Sheriff, something got garbled. About five minutes after Kristin got to the light rail station, she was approached by a Sheriff who asked "Do you need to go to the hospital?" She said no, she didn't know any reason why she needed to go to the hospital. She wasn't pregnant, or injured, or anything. Ten minutes went by, and I didn't show up. Fifteen minutes, maybe I had gotten sidetracked on my way out of work. Twenty-five minutes, maybe I had gone to Tower Records on my way to the light rail station, and lost track of time. Forty minutes, angry that I was so late. An hour, start to panic. She started calling to find out what was up. She called my parents, and found out I was in the emergency room. Now, she knew who the sheriff was looking for. Her. That was probably an hour and a half after I had actually been hit. We discovered we need a better way to communicate in the case of an emergency. I wonder what would have happened if I had really been injured in the accident, and hadn't called my parents...

In any event, my mom picked up Kristin at the light rail station, and got both of them to the hospital. More waiting, then I got to wait some more in one of the examination rooms. The doctor finally showed up, did a pretty quick exam, decided there seemed nothing really wrong -- no obvious forms of nerve damage, body twist, or anything like that. After waiting that long, and since my body looked and reacted fine (though certainly a little stiff and strained), he then sent me home.

Hospital wrist band

I got Kristin and my mom to pile my stuff into my mom's Saturn, and got driven back home.

Dealing with insurance was actually quite straightforward. In a little over a week, I had my load paid off, and a check for the remainder of the value. After the loan was paid off; about $500 less than I had after last year's settlement.

Right now, a month after the accident, I still haven't bought a replacement car. I've been travelling by bicycle, and reflecting on why I need a car, and what owning a car really enables me to do. So far, the car really just expands the range of doing things -- entertainment, food, groceries, work, and so on.

I don't know what's next. For now, I don't need a car, and it's illuminating to find out what I want a car for.

Lessons

• The Saturn crumpling space frame really works.
• Saturn cars keep their value exceptionally well.
• Good Insurance is Very Important.
• Make sure you know how to contact loved ones in the event of an emergency or disaster.

Pictures

These pictures of my car were taken at the tow yard where my car was taken after the accident. It unfortunately doesn't capture the essence of the scene, particularly of feeling trapped in a smashed car, facing the wrong way into traffic. I think the pictures do good justice to the car's damage, and to the integrity of the passenger compartment of the car.