flyingcheesehead
Taxi to Parking
I knew if I drove long enough, this would happen.
I was in a major wreck on Tuesday night, complete with a free trip to the hospital strapped to a backboard (I hate those friggin' things... This was my second trip on one). The good news is, I'm here to talk about it.
My trainee was driving, we were in the middle lane of I-94 westbound just south of Milwaukee. A car passed us on the right... Well, I guess technically he didn't pass us all the way. Before he was even in front of us, he cut to the left too quickly for us to react. The middle of the left-hand side of his car hit the front right corner of the truck, and the car and truck got locked together for a couple of seconds with the car at about a 30-degree angle to the left, which pushed the front end of the tractor to the left.
The car finally separated and spun out to the right, but we were too far gone to do anything. We smashed into a cement wall, went over the end of the wall, through the median (which is about where I started thinking "So this is what it's like to die"), across all three lanes of eastbound traffic, down an embankment, through a creek, and into the woods before coming to a stop.
An eastbound SUV ended up in the ditch due to evasive maneuvers. Four people sent to the hospital (me, my trainee, the guy who hit us, and a passenger in the SUV), but miraculously nobody was killed and the injuries weren't all that serious. After a bunch of X-rays, they sent me home and said "Your neck and back are probably gonna be really sore and stiff for the next 4-5 days." Sure beats the alternative.
All of my stuff came loose. Everything in the sleeper, everything on the dash, everything in the cabinets (which came open as we were being thrown around) all rained down on us. It's gonna take a while to clean all that up. Blech.
Six hours after the accident when I was released from the hospital, we tried to drive back to the site but I-94 eastbound was still closed and all traffic was being diverted onto Ryan Rd. We went a few miles down, turned around, and went westbound. The truck had just been pulled back up onto the road.
As we all (should) know, 85% of aircraft accidents are caused by pilot error. On the ground, things are quite the opposite. 85% of truck accidents are caused by cars. Please, drive smart around trucks. It's a miracle that this one turned out as well as it did: A half second later, we would have taken out a tanker and about 10 cars on our way across the eastbound lanes, and I wouldn't be typing this. It's a ride I never want to take again, and we had absolutely no control over it.
Anyway... I get a few days off to recover. I'm glad to be here to talk about it. My laptop, unfortunately, was destroyed. (Hard drive is intact, case and screen are not.) When that's replaced I should be able to post more.
I was in a major wreck on Tuesday night, complete with a free trip to the hospital strapped to a backboard (I hate those friggin' things... This was my second trip on one). The good news is, I'm here to talk about it.
My trainee was driving, we were in the middle lane of I-94 westbound just south of Milwaukee. A car passed us on the right... Well, I guess technically he didn't pass us all the way. Before he was even in front of us, he cut to the left too quickly for us to react. The middle of the left-hand side of his car hit the front right corner of the truck, and the car and truck got locked together for a couple of seconds with the car at about a 30-degree angle to the left, which pushed the front end of the tractor to the left.
The car finally separated and spun out to the right, but we were too far gone to do anything. We smashed into a cement wall, went over the end of the wall, through the median (which is about where I started thinking "So this is what it's like to die"), across all three lanes of eastbound traffic, down an embankment, through a creek, and into the woods before coming to a stop.
An eastbound SUV ended up in the ditch due to evasive maneuvers. Four people sent to the hospital (me, my trainee, the guy who hit us, and a passenger in the SUV), but miraculously nobody was killed and the injuries weren't all that serious. After a bunch of X-rays, they sent me home and said "Your neck and back are probably gonna be really sore and stiff for the next 4-5 days." Sure beats the alternative.All of my stuff came loose. Everything in the sleeper, everything on the dash, everything in the cabinets (which came open as we were being thrown around) all rained down on us. It's gonna take a while to clean all that up. Blech.
Six hours after the accident when I was released from the hospital, we tried to drive back to the site but I-94 eastbound was still closed and all traffic was being diverted onto Ryan Rd. We went a few miles down, turned around, and went westbound. The truck had just been pulled back up onto the road.
As we all (should) know, 85% of aircraft accidents are caused by pilot error. On the ground, things are quite the opposite. 85% of truck accidents are caused by cars. Please, drive smart around trucks. It's a miracle that this one turned out as well as it did: A half second later, we would have taken out a tanker and about 10 cars on our way across the eastbound lanes, and I wouldn't be typing this. It's a ride I never want to take again, and we had absolutely no control over it.
Anyway... I get a few days off to recover. I'm glad to be here to talk about it. My laptop, unfortunately, was destroyed. (Hard drive is intact, case and screen are not.) When that's replaced I should be able to post more.
I'm glad you're OK.
Then, the truck is in a traffic lane going very slow and becomes a hazard.