Today we were going to get Sasha's ears pierced. This is something we promised her she could do before Maya was born, to symbolise how very grown-up she would be as a big sister. We had the earrings picked out, and we chose after school today as our best time, because she'd have several days to let the piercings heal before going back to school. At the last minute, though, she decided it was a little too scary, and backed out.
This was supposed to be the biggest thing to happen today, but it wasn't.
On our way back from the failed rite of passage, though, we got into a car accident. Everyone is fine, and even the car seems to be hardly damaged. (The guy who hit us wasn't so lucky - he seemed OK, but his hood was crumpled up like tissue paper.)
Here's what happened: We were about to go through an intersection with a green light when the car in front of us stopped dead and an ambulance whizzed through the red light from the other street. This ambulance flipped its lights and sirens on about ten feet before it entered the intersection, and didn't even pause to make sure the way was clear.
Matt was able to stop short and turn the wheel so we didn't hit the car in front of us, but the guy behind us wasn't so lucky and couldn't stop before he rear-ended us. We heard the BOOM and then "Sasha!" Matt cried out, and "Maya!" I cried out, and we both flew out of the car to check on the kids. I took the baby carrier out - Maya was still asleep, and I couldn't wake her up. I took her out of the seat and let her get a little cold, and after a verrrrrrry long few minutes, she got cold enough to wake up and cry. (She seems totally fine, now.)
Sasha was afraid, but only cried for a minute or two, and hugs and reassurances were enough to settle her down, plus a scarf and oversized knitted gloves from a friendly woman named Lisa who was with the fire department and had seen the whole thing.
The man who hit us felt terrible - when you see the people you just hit haul a preschooler and a weeks-old infant from the car, that's got to be hard on you - but honestly it wasn't even his fault, it was that damn ambulance.
Still, even though we luckily escaped with minimal damage to my car and no apparent injuries, I have a feeling I'm going to be out of sorts for a few days. I suppose it's only natural.
So! Does anyone know how bad an accident needs to be for you to need to get new car seats?
Posted by andrea at November 22, 2006 08:43 PM*hugs* Poor Rhi! I can only imagine how scary it must be to get into an accident with kids in the car.
I can't answer your question about car seats (though my mom says that it should be replaced after ANY accident no matter how minor), but allow me to point out that the ambulance going through a red light *without stopping first* is so very, very illegal. Even for those of us with sirens and flashy lights, a red light is at the very least a stop-and-hit-the-siren-and-then-maybe-go-through-it thing. We don't get to zip through anything. If you noticed what town/service the ambulance was from, you should probably call them up and tell them what happened. If we found out one of our people did that here, not only would my dad (being the guy in charge of, well, everything on our squad) rip them a new one, but they would SO not be getting behind the wheel of any of our rigs any time soon. Also paramedics would probably throw hissy fits about having to ride with such a person as driver - and paramedics are VERY good at hissy fits. You don't want to piss them off.
Posted by: Karen the EMT on November 22, 2006 09:30 PMoh my gosh how scary rhi! *hugs* i'm glad no one was hurt. i hope sasha isn't afraid of the car after such an ordeal.
i found a link on NHTSA's site (www.nhtsa.gov) regarding safety seats:
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/childps/ChildRestraints/ReUse/RestraintReUse.htm
hope it helps,
am
Posted by: ann marie on November 29, 2006 02:31 PMKeep posting stuff like this i really like it
Posted by: mikeross on April 24, 2011 03:24 PM