Car Accident

What a Day!

I was involved in a two car accident today, March 26th, 2007, at just after 11:30am. My daughter was in the car, in her car seat, in the passenger rear seat. We were just going to lunch after preschool. She just turned 5, so they had a special birthday party for her and she was on cloud nine. So, we're on Highway 20 heading from Sioux City Morningside to South Sioux City, West-bound. A pick-up truck in front of us tried to do a "U"-turn. He might have gotten bogged down in the mud, but somehow he backed the rear end of his truck in front of my car just at the last second. I smacked into the back 2 feet of his bed at almost full speed. It spun him around in the median, but crushed the hood of my car on the driver's side. My windshield shattered and all kinds of stuff flew around inside my car.

Thank God, my daughter and I were both buckled in, and the airbag worked perfectly. Emily was scared, but she was not injured. I, however, was pretty banged up, from the airbag and the other stuff. My seatbelt made a big bruise on my shoulder and chest. My left forearm was burned by the airbag and cut by glass and stuff. I'm pretty sure I hit my head on something too. But good news is that we both were OK.

Here are some pictures of the damage to my car and the truck, taken at South Sioux Towing just a few hours after the accident. I coundn't take pictures at the scene, mainly because I couldn't get my camera to work (it got banged around too) and we were blocking traffic so the police were clearing a path.

My Car

Yep, that was a great Dodge Intrepid before this morning

View from the front, showing just how little of the front acutally hit the truck.

Another shot straight on.

That wheel got pushed back quite a ways.

Close up of what used to be the front of my car.

From the passenger's side, looking across the engine compartment.

From the back, showing the driver's side door really messed up.

Close-up of the door. They tried to pry it open to get me out. I had to use the passenger side door.

Looking in the passenger door, seeing that both air bags did deploy properly, and look at all that damage.

Looking up into the windshield.

Rear driver's side, showing that the back door got messed up too.

Another shot at the windshield in front of the passenger seat.

The Other Guy