Happy Birthday to me- or not.

[SilverUberXeno]

Today, June 8th, is my birthday. Here's how things have gone so far.

At 12:01 AM, I was in a head-on collision with another vehicle at 45 MPH. Keep in mind, this is the Chrysler LHS I bought on FRIDAY; gone.

Coming down the road only a few minutes from my house, with the cruise control at 45 to conserve fuel, it appeared that there was a washing machine in the road. I swerved right and avoided the obstruction, but was immediately greeted by a telephone pole directly in front of me, which I also avoided- However, the right side of my car lost traction in the grass/mud on the side of the road and the car fish-tailed out to the right. I ended up in the oncoming lane of traffic, and in the front end of a Grand-Am.

I saw the car coming and knew there was nothing I could do just before the collision, so I relaxed. BOOM. Airbags smashed me in the face and my car stopped DEAD, only moving enough to slide back-first into the ditch. For five seconds I made sure I wasn't bleeding from anywhere on my head, then I crawled over the seats (as I could not open the driver-side door), kicked out the passenger side door, and got out of the car.

My right ankle hurt a little, and I was bleeding from a few spots, but everything seemed to be moving properly. I hobbled over to the other car and the driver was conscious as well, though a little disoriented. His wife had been behind him in another car and was almost in hysterics. I thought about telling her to shut up, as we were both alert and responsive and the ambulances were coming, but I let her be. I understood her concern.

The police asked me questions and I answered calmly. Every one of them said "You were in that car? You're more calm than anybody I've ever seen after an accident. Do you remember it? Did you hit your head? Why are you so calm?" I don't think my heart rate was ever over 100. Just made more sense to have my wits and be sensible.

As it turns out, the obstacle in the road was an INFLATABLE ****ING CHAIR. Sitting directly in the middle of my lane.

The hospital was uneventful; just a sprained ankle and some bad lacerations to my left foot. I walked out of the hospital on my own power at 2:12AM and went directly to the salvage yard. I did not trust my golf clubs in a salvage yard. They survived the accident just fine, by the way.

Went back to the scene of the crash at 2:38AM, hobbling around a muddy ditch in hospital socks to find my sneakers. Didn't find them until this morning, but it must've been quite a site to see a kid hauled off in an ambulance come walking back to the crash.

At 10:18AM I bought a new putter. Happy birthday to me.

No one was seriously hurt, and I had full coverage on the car, so this should all be taken care of. Pictures will follow as soon as I get back to my normal computer. Nothing too gruesome, as it's just of the cars, but they're pretty bad.

[King Par]

Holy crap dude...glad you're okay. That sounds crazy.

Happy Birthday.

[goatster]

good thing you were calm enough to relax or you may have been injured.

i know the big crash i was in they said its a good thing i was so drunk or he would have been dead.(big rocks dont move)

glad your safe and happy b-day.

[MCDavis]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Yes, it's a happy one as no one was seriously hurt.

Nosy question, how did the police handle any charges? Sounds like it was truly an accident and the fault would lie with the obstruction in the road.

[Dusty90]

WOW! glad that you are okay, its always scary to hear about accidents like that, luckily, no one was seriously injured.

Happy birthdya to you as well. Look forward to seeing pics of the putter!

[clemsonhacker]

glad to hear you and everyone else is ok... crazy stuff happens sometimes.. oh yea by the way

HAPPY FREAKIN BIRTHDAY

[SilverUberXeno]

Police wrote me up for "Failure to keep right," which I suppose is true. It's not "Failure to make an effort to stay right"

[Wi-Golfer]

Originally Posted by SilverUberXeno

Police wrote me up for "Failure to keep right," which I suppose is true. It's not "Failure to make an effort to stay right"

Fight it in court, seems like cops always write a ticket for any accident. You swerved to avoid a large object directly in your lane, what other option was there except to hit it, granted after the fact it's easy to state something like "oh it was just blow up chair" but at the time you didn't know that.

BTW, happy freakin birthday.

[Rockford35]

I'm glad you're ok. Sounds like a terrifying ordeal.

I hope everything comes up roses beyond you walking away from an insane accident. How did the other dude fare?

I chuckled that you went back for your golf clubs. That's super awesome, considering the situation...

R35

[SilverUberXeno]

It's not everyday a guy gets to play with MP-30's from Sasketchewan, my friend Pictures incoming very shortly.

FYI- the other guy was conscious and alert with no serious injuries. He couldn't get out of his car and he had a bloody wound on his arm, but no spinal/CNS damage.

[usa1950]

A downhill, twisting 6 footer for bogey will seem like nothing now....

So, ummmm.......Congratulations?

[SilverUberXeno]

Pictures below.

#1-3) This is the car I was driving; the car I had bought three days before the accident. It held up well all things considered. The front end did what it was made to do; compress and absorb as much impact force as possible. The rest of the car appears virtually untouched.

#4) The inside of the LHS. That's the airbag that played a massive role in keeping me safe enough to walk away from this. Seat belts and air-bags, gentlemen.

[SilverUberXeno]

#5-6) The Grand-Am that I collided with. Clearly the Grand-Am was not as structurally sound as the LHS, as it really took a beating. To be fair, it took a glancing blow, whereas all the impact on the LHS was concentrated on the front end.

#7) Inside of the Grand-Am. Eek.

Notice the blue thing in the Grand-Am. That's the chair. The back of it is white, which is what I saw coming down the road with my headlights.

[King Par]

Wow. Those pictures are insane to say the least.

[SplooGe]

Damn, Happy Bday and congrats on the putter. What're the stats on that?