Just to let everyone know, I will say seatbelts completely work just a hair under 100% of the time in an accident. I said “just a hair under” because if the percentage was written out in numerals there'd probably have to be 20 or more 9s in a row. Being brought up in the 1970s when my family used seatbelts as punishment to keep feuding brothers separated instead of for their safety, using them wasn't ever on my list of the most important things to do.
Was I wearing one during the accident? I admit that when driving my work van the chance of me belting myself in was about 50/50 at best and I didn’t have it on. I was just going from one job to the next job about 5 miles away.
Did flying out of the van as it rolled 2 or 3 times while shards of glass, various tools, a laptop, and a car battery mounted under a seat bounced around in there help me survive? Maybe by that hair, maybe not.
Now here’s the story about the wreck. I honestly don’t remember any of it. Heck I don’t even remember a few hours, or even several days before it happened. I just got all this information from the police report on a CD, Workers Comp reports online, and my wife.
August 25, 2016 was a warm sunny afternoon, around 3:00 when I was driving northbound on a two lane 55 mph road when a guy pulled out of a trailer shop shortly ahead of me on the left. He was then headed south. Not a problem but the next guy heading south in a Ford Ranger may have been speeding, texting, and/or who knows what else. Alcohol was not involved. Whatever he was doing, he apparently needed to pass the trailer guy as opposed to rear ending him. It probably would have been much better had he passed him on the left and hit me head on. Airbags could have helped hold me in place and the quick straight stop would not have created as much flying shrapnel.
But noooo! He decided to pass in the grass on his right. Maybe it wasn’t as much a decision as a reaction. He succeeded at passing, but then swerved back onto the road, crossed in front of the trailer guy and slammed into the glass rack behind my driver door. My van was pushed off the side of the road to my right before swerving back on and flipping 2 or 3 times then going off the opposite side.
Nobody knows at what stage I was tossed out of the van.
The upper window frame of my door got folded down at some point, a body guy I know said he’s pretty sure the door flew open during the impact by the Ranger and was still open at least one of the times the van landed upside down.
Based on that, and the fact that the van did get back on the road before rolling, I figure I was tossed out sometime early during the first roll. If I had been wearing the seatbelt I most likely would have remained in the van but I’m not too sure about how some upper parts of my body would have compared to the window frame damage or what any flying shrapnel would have caused.
Meanwhile the Ranger continued off my side of the road and ended up on it’s side. The roof looks pretty crushed, I think that damage came from my glass rack, roof rack and ladders bouncing into it.
I found out that a nurse driving by came to my side and made sure I was breathing until an ambulance came for me. Not sure how far the ambulance took me, could be less than a mile because they passed me off to a life flight helicopter. A 20 mile flight at about $850 per mile and I’ll never remember it.
I'm not looking for sympathy or judgement, good or bad, just telling the story of the accident that started 3 1/2 months in the hospital and a year or so after that for physical recovery and still working on the mental stuff.
And FWIW don't take that "just a hair under" chance, wear that seat belt every time. I do now
Was I wearing one during the accident? I admit that when driving my work van the chance of me belting myself in was about 50/50 at best and I didn’t have it on. I was just going from one job to the next job about 5 miles away.
Did flying out of the van as it rolled 2 or 3 times while shards of glass, various tools, a laptop, and a car battery mounted under a seat bounced around in there help me survive? Maybe by that hair, maybe not.
Now here’s the story about the wreck. I honestly don’t remember any of it. Heck I don’t even remember a few hours, or even several days before it happened. I just got all this information from the police report on a CD, Workers Comp reports online, and my wife.
August 25, 2016 was a warm sunny afternoon, around 3:00 when I was driving northbound on a two lane 55 mph road when a guy pulled out of a trailer shop shortly ahead of me on the left. He was then headed south. Not a problem but the next guy heading south in a Ford Ranger may have been speeding, texting, and/or who knows what else. Alcohol was not involved. Whatever he was doing, he apparently needed to pass the trailer guy as opposed to rear ending him. It probably would have been much better had he passed him on the left and hit me head on. Airbags could have helped hold me in place and the quick straight stop would not have created as much flying shrapnel.
But noooo! He decided to pass in the grass on his right. Maybe it wasn’t as much a decision as a reaction. He succeeded at passing, but then swerved back onto the road, crossed in front of the trailer guy and slammed into the glass rack behind my driver door. My van was pushed off the side of the road to my right before swerving back on and flipping 2 or 3 times then going off the opposite side.
Nobody knows at what stage I was tossed out of the van.
The upper window frame of my door got folded down at some point, a body guy I know said he’s pretty sure the door flew open during the impact by the Ranger and was still open at least one of the times the van landed upside down.
Based on that, and the fact that the van did get back on the road before rolling, I figure I was tossed out sometime early during the first roll. If I had been wearing the seatbelt I most likely would have remained in the van but I’m not too sure about how some upper parts of my body would have compared to the window frame damage or what any flying shrapnel would have caused.
Meanwhile the Ranger continued off my side of the road and ended up on it’s side. The roof looks pretty crushed, I think that damage came from my glass rack, roof rack and ladders bouncing into it.
I found out that a nurse driving by came to my side and made sure I was breathing until an ambulance came for me. Not sure how far the ambulance took me, could be less than a mile because they passed me off to a life flight helicopter. A 20 mile flight at about $850 per mile and I’ll never remember it.
I'm not looking for sympathy or judgement, good or bad, just telling the story of the accident that started 3 1/2 months in the hospital and a year or so after that for physical recovery and still working on the mental stuff.
And FWIW don't take that "just a hair under" chance, wear that seat belt every time. I do now
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