WTF Happened
I had just dropped off the Versa at the dealership to have an oil and filter change done. Danielle came later to pick me up because we had intended to run some errands before coming back so I could finish painting the office and replanting my seedlings into a proper dirtbox so they could grow. I had friends coming over around 5pm or so for gaming and I wanted to have the office put back together by then.
Danielle showed up and I could tell she was worried. She'd talk to her mother and as it turned out the MIL was in the Emergency Room at Saint Agnes Hospital complaining of vertigo. Danielle was slightly indecisive about what to do so I said "Dude, it's your mother. Lets go."
We went down to Saint Agnes but we weren't quite sure where it was or hot to get there so Danielle asked me to look it up on my phone since her car doesn't have a Nav. I used the Map application to plot a route. Most of it was self explanatory but at the end it did something weird. It routed us off Canton avenue for some reason and down a street called Benson. It then had us go on some road that ran parallele to Canton for a bit then back onto Canton, effectively making a big circle for no apparent reason.
We got onto Canton avenue and I only noticed Benson after we were mostly through the intersection. I was like "Uh.. that was Benson back there..." We continued up Canton while I looked back down at my phone to see where it was going to route us. The next intersection after Benson had a light (Wilkin's avenue I think?) and was basically the entrance to the hospital. This is where the phone was routing us. Why it didn't do that to start with I don't know. But I told Danielle to make the left and we stopped at the intersection to wait for traffic to clear.
I looked up as Danielle started to move and I saw a MD Transit Cop in motion literally like 15 feet from us going pretty fast. Neither his lights or siren were on. I think he might have gone around the lane of traffic turning right into the hospital or something but I didn't see that just the fact that he was incoming. I had just enough time to shout "Dani, NO!" but she was already starting to make the turn.
The transit cop hit us effectively head on though somehow more to the drivers side. I guess he'd seen us a little too late and swerved to avoid us just as Danielle had started the turn.
Then the world got all spinny. The airbags popped the windshield crumpled and we were spun around 180 degrees to face the other direction. The engine compartment was basically obliterated and there was oil and bits of Elantra all over the road. My sunglasses (and Dani's eyeglasses) disappeared but somehow I'd managed to keep my hand on my phone. I pocketed it and got out of the car as soon as I'd realized that we'd stopped and I was still alive and conscious.
First thing I did was get my daughter out of her carseat in the back. She was terrified and squalling but otherwise unhurt. I then ran around to the driver's side. The impact had basically crushed the metal up to the door so that I had to pry it open to get Danielle out. As I tried to get her out of the car she just shouted at me to get Mia out of the car. Then a bunch of people who'd seen the accident and stopped started checking on us to see if we were ok. Some random dude walked up and started talking about Jesus protecting us and stuff and then left. Then a red truck pulled up next to us and said to me that I should get them (Dani and Mia) away from the car in case it caught fire. I figured that was a good idea so I got Dani out of the car and got them both to the nearby sidewalk.
Mia was flipping out so I was trying to calm her down. Being literally a hundred feet or so from Saint Agnes the paramedics and cops were on the scene within a minute or so. I could see the cop car about 100 or so feet down the road. His lights were not on but his door was open and there were some people checking on him. I got Mia calmed down a bit and then handed her off to Dani so I could go check on the police officer.
When I got down there he was half sprawled across the front seat. I don't recall him wearing a seatbelt (do cops wear seatbelts?) but his airbag had popped and I noted blood on it. I found out later he'd required a couple of stitches in his knuckles which is probably where the blood came from. I asked him if he was ok and he said he was shaken up. But that he'd made the call in. Later I'd found out he'd used some 'oh shit' police code and that's why cops had literally came out of the woodwork. Since the cop seemed ok I went back to my family.
Mia was still freaking the hell out so I picked her up and started calming her down again. I checked on Dani and she was crying and a bit scared too. By then the first emergency vehicle had already pulled up and was treating her. Still holding Mia I walked down to take a look at the car, which was totaled. As soon as Mia saw it she flipped out with renewed fervor so I walked back to the emergency vehicle so she couldn't see it anymore.
That's when the EMTs started arriving en masse. I could see them pulling the police officer out and putting him on a backboard and shit in the distance to get him into an ambulance.
The emergency vehicle I was standing by pulled a bag of what I assume was oil cleanup stuff that looked like ground up newspaper or something and tossing it onto the ground so they could start handling the oil and gasoline spills. They were putting a neck brace thinger on Dani and said they needed to get one on Mia as well. I said "Well she's probably not gonna like that but do what you gotta do."
Mia was surprisingly a trooper through that hold thing. She was still scared but I reassured her that the people were there to make sure she was safe. They put her in this like, nylon cocoon thing with the brace on her neck to keep her immobile and loaded Dani into the same truck. There was some question about where everybody was going for a bit there even though Saint Agnes was just across the street. Hell i could have walked over.
Then cops and EMTs descended on me when they realized I'd been in the accident too. I'd escaped completely unharmed as far as I could tell. But one EMT told me that there was a hole in the window where the passenger had been and asked me if I remembered the airbag hitting me or hitting the windshield or anything. I responded that "No I don't remember hitting anything." basically intended to mean "No I didn't hit anything." at that point there was a flurry and I was being back boarded and neck braced as well.
I think what they were talking about was caused by a crack that has been in the windshield for a long time now. It started as a little ding but was never corrected and every time it got cold and then warm it expanded. I'm guessing when the impact happened the window just collapsed there. So yeah it probably looked like someone hit it.
I was asked the same questions a hundred times, which I correctly assumed that they were trying to make sure I hadn't had some traumatic brain injury. Then they stuck me on a gurney and put me in an ambulance. They then wanted to give me a 'line' and I was like "Line? Uh.. am I bleeding or something?" and they said no but it was standard procedure because I'd just been in a severe trauma. So I said "Ok... go ahead and stick me." but they couldn't find any veins in my left or right arms and eventually gave up. They then drove me the hundred feet into the emergency room.
They took me into a waiting room in the pediatric emergency area presumably because that's where Mia and Dani were. i could hear Dani's voice coming from somewhere nearby.
My only complaint the whole time was the fact that I was basically left on that backboard for an hour. The only people that came in to check on me were family, cops and the chick who takes your insurance information. I started texting people and posting on facebook about what was going on. All I could move was my arms the way they had me strapped down.
And I REALLY had to pee. At one point I called out "Uh.. not to be ungrateful or anything but could someone get me the hell of this thing? I'm fine and I really have to pee."
My brother in law and his family were apparently also on their way to visit the MIL but were stuck in the traffic jam we'd created. R* visited me to check on me and let me know Mia and Dani were ok. Mia'd already been discharged and they were working on clearing Dani. I asked him to go grab somebody by the balls and drag them in there to get me out of this thing and he'd said "Well they're pretty much all females out there but I'll see what I can do."
I'd started fiddling with the restraints trying to figure out exactly how to get them off. I couldn't move enough to see where they were attached or how but I was going to MacGuiver my way out of there when finally a doctor came in to see me. He did some basic functionality and injury tests on me and then released me. Eventually I got to use the bathroom too (someone was in there and I had to wait) and then went to check on my family.
Dani's a bit banged up. She has some serious seatbelt rash that looks like bacon around her neck. She also has some nasty bruises in other areas where the seatbelt saved her from much worse injury. Mia has a tiny little bruise (which might have been from the neck collar) on her chin that she shows off like a war wound. I'm completely fine. The police officer was given a couple of stitches to his hand and then released. Both cars are pretty much totaled.
After we were released we went down to check on the MIL and another police officer came down to check on us. He took some pics of Dani's bruising and then showed us pictures of what was left of the car. He said that they'd cordoned off Canton Ave and were doing accident reconstruction. The Officer was very polite and helpful just like everyone else. He said that' he'd asked some of the other police to hang around in case we needed a ride home or to go get a new car seat for Mia since you can't really use them after they've been in an accident.
My family and the police officer are all ok and cars can be replaced. That is all that matters to me. All day yesterday and today I've been in a wonderful "Hell I'm still alive" kind of mood.
So, if you don't wear a seatbelt? Start. And remember, car seats for kids is a good idea. All the libertarian-style complaining about 'freedom' from those restrictions isn't going to stop you from splattering against the dashboard or you child from hitting the seat in front of them. Those restraints and countermeasures work and the alternative is a hell of a site worse.
Edit:
I wasn't intending to make it sound like Jesusdude just showed up, laid some Jesus on us and left. He was checking on us and according to Dani (though I don't remember this) helped me get her standing out of the car. Then he said "i'll leave you in the capable hands of Jesus" or whatever and left. He DID actually help. But I think by and large we were fine so he didn't need to stick around. EMS starting teleporting in from all over the place shortly after that so we were fine.
Edit:
I wasn't intending to make it sound like Jesusdude just showed up, laid some Jesus on us and left. He was checking on us and according to Dani (though I don't remember this) helped me get her standing out of the car. Then he said "i'll leave you in the capable hands of Jesus" or whatever and left. He DID actually help. But I think by and large we were fine so he didn't need to stick around. EMS starting teleporting in from all over the place shortly after that so we were fine.