Surviving a Deadly Car Accident
Exactly 2 years ago on September 4th 2017, when I was living in Los Angeles, I went to a local summer night market called 626 Night Market with my friend, Cristina. It was the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. We had a lovely time there, not knowing what’s about to come on our way back…
I had a silver 2015 Honda CR-V at the time. Very prime condition, extremely well-taken care of. No dent or scratches whatsoever. And believe me, I am a VERY SAFE driver, especially when there are a lot cars near me on a highway.
It was about 9:30pm and I was driving West on Interstate 210 to Burbank, (where I live) from the night market in Arcadia. I remember looking at my speed, and it was 60 mph. It was a 5-lane highway, and I was in the middle lane.
Then it happened… in split seconds… but strangely, it’s almost like I could dissect & visualize each tiny moments & emotions clearly in my mind.
That same second I was hit, I heard a really loud shattering noise from my rear mirror and what sounded like a booming honk, while I completely lost control of the car. I screamed while looking at Cristina, who’s sitting right next to me —I could still clearly remember her facial expression. My back 2 tires popped, and THANK GOD the car skidded to the right, instead of to the left — I would have been hit by fast oncoming cars otherwise.
About 5 seconds later, we found ourselves (still inside the car) to the far right side of the road, right on the edge to the grassy area. We still had our seat belts on, airbags didn’t pop out, our back & headrests ALL the way down FLAT to the backseats, due to the whiplash effect. My phone flown over, Cristina’s glasses broken on the floor, and feeling extremely disoriented. Weirdly enough, the music which was connected to my phone via Bluetooth was still playing… it was playing “Carrying the Banner” from Newsies Broadway. I first had to find my phone & turn off the music, before coming out of the car.
“The seat belts SAVED our life.”
When I got out, I immediately realized how lucky we were. I prayed to God that very second in my heart. We could EASILY have died in that accident. A third of my car was mushed, my car trunk went all the way to the middle seat because of how powerful the hit impact was. Basically, I only had 2/3 of my car intact after the accident. If my car wasn’t a CR-V, I am sure I wouldn’t be here writing this story today. To this day, I still thank God that the drunk driver hit my CR-V car instead of a Sedan…
Police came just 3 minutes after. After doing some testings, they immediately knew that the pickup truck driver was drunk. He also didn’t have any insurance. I was in shock when I got out of the car, even though I didn’t realize it at the time. It was a pickup truck who hit me.
The seat belts SAVED our life. We only had some bruises & a bit of pain on our neck for the next few days, which was definitely a pure miracle. I still had chills all over my body when I think back to that night. All the people I talked to after the accident told me that they couldn’t believe we only got some bruises without any major injuries. The lawyer who I hired to help me with the case said that they’ve seen few cases similar to mine where the driver & passenger actually died on-scene.
I wasn’t feeling well the next couple days as the shock started to kick-in. But on Tuesday, I was back at work and continuing with life! Definitely very stressful for the following couple months not having a car, being busy at work, living in LA, taking care of my totally wrecked CR-V, dealing with the lawyer, dealing with car insurance companies, and trying to find a new car. But I eventually settled on a new green Honda HR-V a couple months after the accident.
