Was driving across a bridge today, and a pile-up ensued.
I was headed into the big town again, looking for a present for a loved one who's sick. I had my cousin with me. We were crossing this bridge that's way high above the water. I was midway across the bridge, going slow. The opposite lane was at a total standstill, with traffic backed up all the way from where I was, to the light I had just left.
So halfway across this bridge, in the middle of all this traffic that's going nowhere, some idiot in a large white van decided to pull out into my lane. Of course, because nothing is safer than pulling into oncoming traffic in the middle of an old two-lane bridge that sits 500ft above the water.
So I see him pulling into our lane, and I immediately start to slow down. I was the lead car in my lane, so I if he came at me, it's me that he's gonna hit first.
So I've slowed down, and colorfully expressed my disapproval of his behavior to my cousin. Well, lo and behold, he jerks the wheel and pulls back into his own lane. So I let off the brake and continue my roll forward, getting ready to hit the gas and go on my way. We were about 25ft away from the van at that point. Well, then it happened. BOOM! The guy coming up behind the van slammed into him at speed. I've seen a slow wreck, this was not that. The back of the van came slightly off the ground and the front end turned down and alittle to the left. The van was slammed forward into the car in front of it, basically totaling the rear of the car.
There was metal and plastic flying everywhere. Then there was another loud boom, and the cars just looked like they were exploding. Boom! Boom! Boom! I've seen less metal flying around in a tornado. Now I know what people mean about it happening in slow motion, it seemed like it took forever. So when everything was on the ground, and all went quiet, I rolled down the window. I was beside the first car with the rear end damage. I asked if everybody was alright, but apparently there were children in the backseat and they were all screaming and freaking out. That car was torn up pretty bad, but the kids seemed okay.
So I slowly drove forward and checked with all the cars involved and everybody said they were okay. Bless this one old man, he was just sitting there in his vehicle all dazed. I pointed at him and hollered "You alright brother?" He just looked around and said "Well, I guess I'm about as good as I'm gonna be". But as for the cars, it just got messier the further we drove on. Then people started yelling at each other. Some guy yelled, "What the hell is wrong with you!" at the guy responsible.
At that point, I had to make a decision. I had a lot of traffic coming up behind me and I noticed we were blocking the entrances for EMS vehicles. So I made the choice to creep forward off the bridge and call 911. I told them there was a pile-up, and where. That I was not involved or injured, and then I gave a full statement over the phone. I asked them if they needed me to pull over and speak to someone. And made sure I was legally allowed to proceed, as I did not want to leave the scene of an accident and be charged. After inquiring my name, the dispatcher thanked me for informing them, and told me I was good to go. We passed the EMS station a few minutes later as they were pulling out. My cousin was wondering why I bothered calling it in, and I told him it's not only the right thing to do, but it's easy to find your ass in trouble. We needed to clear out, but I needed to call and inform them why.
So what is there to be happy about? Well, he didn't crash into us when he came into my lane, nobody was killed, and for being right up on that God-awful mess, we weren't injured. That's good enough for me.
