My First Car Crash In Ages

My best friend (who is really my brother - just not by blood) and his wife came down from Florida (where they live) to be with me and my mother during this very difficult time. Tyrone, and his better half, wanted to pay their respects to my father by attending his funeral which will be held on Wednesday 17th January at the church we worship at; Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Shirley Street.

My car has been in the shop for a while now getting my transmission fixed by the authorized Honda dealer for Nassau, well it's probably the entire Bahamas. Anyway, Tyrone did not rent a car and his family down here didn't lend him one so I had to borrow my mothers '98 Pontiac so that I could pick up my friends at their hotel and hang for a bit; catch a couple cocktails and chat.

Nassau Palm Resort

On my way to the Nassau Palm Resort at about 8:30ish in the evening I got in a car accident. I was heading west on Shirley Street, and this ass that caused this traffic accident was heading north on East Street. Well I'm just cruising with the rest of the cars heading west when suddenly I saw a car fly from the left (East St.) and was directly in front of me. It happened so fast that I did not have time to hit the breaks and try to stop the inevitable from happening. All I could do was close my eyes.

I felt the impact of our cars and the G-force which accompanied it, then it felt like I was floating. Just bobbing around on white fluffy clouds until I was jolted to an abrupt stop. I opened my eyes and saw that the airbag in the steering wheel had opened and all the white dust was floating in the air. I opened my door and tried to get out but I was moving too slow and had to quickly remove my hand from the way of the drivers door coming right back at me. It slammed. I tried again and this time put my foot out so that the door could not return. I pulled myself out of my seat and my legs were hanging outside the car but they were not touching the ground. I had to hop to reach it; that or fall. I then surveyed my surroundings.

I quickly examined myself searching for ripped clothes, scratches, bruises and blood. A fragment of flying glass from the windshield must have cut me on my right wrist, but I could not find anything else wrong with me. People were now gathering in abundance. I had a small crowd of five to eight people checking out me and asking if I was alright. I then heard a baby crying in the distance. One of the ladies then said,"Oh Lord! She gat a baby wit her." And another lady shouted,"Check if aight. Da baby crying!"

The irresponsible driver that ran the red street light had her child in the front of the car with her. Not only was the driver not wearing her seatbelt, but her baby was not strapped in a child's car seat either. What do you think goes through these peoples heads? Not much, I say. Why on Gods green Earth would you not where your seatbelt, not strap your baby properly in your vehicle, and then not pay attention, run a red light and cause a car crash? WTF!!??

Stupid people do stupid things!

I got out my Sony Cybershot Digital Camera and started taking pictures to document the damage which had occurred. I looked at my moms car and saw that I had crashed into a parking lot wall. The impact threw the Pontiac (with me in it) ten to fifteen feet in the air and right into a brick wall. On the other side of the wall were three cars including a Mercedes Benz, which had blocks, debris and dust on them from the busted wall.

The ambulance had now arrived on the scene to make sure that who ever needed medical help got it. I declined their help as I only had that one small wound on my wrist and it was not bleeding heavily. My legs and arms seemed to be working normally and I did not feel light headed or pain from any part of my body.

Thank God no one got hurt in this absolutely preventable accident. The baby was fine too, it was just crying because it was scared shitless, nearly (but thankfully not) lifeless.

I was busy making phone calls. Called my brother in-law to notify him on the situation and rang my blood brother to see if I could have the car towed to his place because the private community that I live in has rules about these sort of things.

One of my friends that I have not seen in about four, five years was there by my side. He was riding shotgun in one of his friends cars when they passed by and he saw that I was involved in the street mess. They pulled over to see if they could help me in any way. I did require their help.

By now the tow truck that had arrived on the scene and had already pulled my car out of the parking lot wall was ready to take the injured Pontiac to it's final destination that night. I organized a plan with my on-site-buddy "Dex" and I jumped into the passengers side of the Tow Truck. Dex and his driver friend followed us to my brothers house which was about fifteen minutes away. After placing the car right where we wanted it, after removing some items from the car, after paying the tow truck driver I hopped in the back seat with my new friends and headed to get a drink. I was really needing it at this point now; it's time to relax.

I called Tyrone in his hotel room and told him that I was coming his way, we were going out and that I had a surprize for him. Tyrone hates suprizes but I had to keep this one a surprize. He said that him and his wife were not ready and to check them a little later so the three of us decided to get a cocktail while we waited for the two of them to get ready. "Flamingo's" was mentioned and we headed that way.

Turning on the corner I noticed that the bar was in darkness so I new they were closed but that really didn't matter because there were police all over the road. They, (the police) were pulling over cars and handing out tickets for a number of things. They even arrested a few people for outstanding warrants.

The cop waved us to the side. We got out after he told us to,"Turn off the car and step out of the vehicle." He wanted our drivers license's and we handed them over without griping. He wanted to see if either of us had any warrants. After about 25 minutes and total disbelief of the circumstances that were happening to me that night we were given the okay to leave. We headed directly to Tyrone's hotel.

When Ty arrived in the lobby of the hotel he saw me and then he saw Dex. It was a nice surprize since they had not seen each other since Tyrone got married a few years before. By the way I was Tyrone's Best Man.

After a little chit chat we all managed to squeeze into the black car Dex's friend was driving. We all wanted, and some of us needed a drink. We hit a number of bars and we all had a great time. It's just such a pity that I had to have such a bad time to have a great time.

Here are some of the pictures I took:

This is the car that ran the red light. You can see in the first picture the street sign in the background. That road is East Street. The main road that the car is pictured on is Shirley Street.

Nice Axel

I can tell you one thing. That car was tough. Dad bought this car for my mother because he wanted a strong, solid car that would protect her and keep her safe. Not only did the car keep me alive and pretty much injury free, but I believe that my father himself took part in protecting me and keeping me from harm.