Area Sys261, Msg#153, Mar-02-93 23:43:00 From: Mike Gurski To: All Subject: IMPORTANT MESSAGE -- Please Read!!! Hello All! Most of you have seen my name before. You've probably read quite a few messages from me as well. And you know how much of an easy-going guy I am. And despite occassional complaining and moroseness, I'm pretty carefree. I'd like to share an experience with all of you. Tonight, Tuesday March 2, 1993, a friend and I were driving down a back road (Joppa for those who are curious, around the 4800 block) towards the house of another friend. It was around 8:30 or so, and we were enjoying ourselves. Coming over a hill, I didn't see the road turn partway down. When I saw in my headlights the road going off to the left, I applied my brakes (we were going about 5 or so miles over the speed limit) and turned the wheel as I had done many times for well over a year of driving. However, this evening, something that hadn't happened before happened. We hit a wet spot, and the tires lost traction. Instead of staying on the road, we ended up making contact with the mud and snow covering someone's front yard. We completely lost traction, and the car went sliding off the road. I was fighting to maintain control, applying the brake, but it wasn't any good. We hit several bushes and the limbs of a pine tree, and were able to completely knock out the headlights. We went through a chainlink fence, and flew over a driveway. I was doing my best to head the car toward what I hoped was a safe area. We narrowly missed hitting a parked pickup truck. Somehow, the car spun around, and we hit a dirt embankment. Now that we were stopped and relatively safe, we looked around dazed. I noticed broken glass over the interior of the car, and try to figure out where it had come from. My window and the windshield were at least in the right places (closer examination showed the windshield was cracked in several places). My friend looked and me, and then stuck his arm out of the hole where the passenger-side window used to be. We were unable to open the doors, and my side was higher than his. With his window gone, we were able to climb out of the car and look around. We immediately headed towards the house whose yard we ended up in. I knocked on the door, and when the owner answered, I asked if we could use his phone, because we'd just "run off the road". I called my parents to tell them that we had been in an accident and that we were all right. The person who had been driving in front of us had luckily lived just up the street, and called the police. After the police and my parents arrived, we look at the car. There were several dents, the panels on the front of the car were damaged, and it looked like the front bumper had been pretty banged up, along with the hood. The windshield, as I mentioned before, was cracked, and there were only a few shards of glass left of the passenger window. I noticed that the dashboard and radio had fallen down, and that my seat was back farther than it usually is when I drive. The right rear wheel was *SNAPPED OFF THE AXLE*. Other than that, we couldn't see much more damage. I had a few cuts from the glass on my hands (mostly the back of my right, two on my right palm, and a few scratches on my left hand, not to mention a knick on my right temple--my glasses had fallen off sometime and the frames were bent). A tow truck with a winch AND a flatbed had to be called to get the car out. My friends parents came and brought us home while my parents waited with the cop for the towtruck to come. My mother came home a short time later to get the keys to the car--they had *two* towtrucks there trying to pull the car out, and were going to try turning the wheel. As near as I know, they were able to get the car out, because my parents are now back home. It was a bad road, a bad turn, and the conditions weren't the greatest. My friend and I were VERY lucky. The spot where we ended up was less than three feet from a small creek where a girl had died last year in a similar accident. We were wearing our seatbelts when this happened. If it hadn't been for them, neither of us would be here right now, and you would most likely never read about this. We would had easily flown through the windshield; I should know, I have abrasions from where the shoulder harness held me back. And let me tell you something: _I_was_scared_shitless_!!_ Every teenager thinks that he or she is immortal. I know I sure did. But we've all got to realize that life is NOT a game. My friend and I were off to meet another friend at her house, and this happened. We must ALL understand that when we get into a motor vehicle that we have the potential to kill someone else or ourselves. The only thing that differentiates those that live and those that die is a spin of some great wheel of chance. I'm writing this message in the hopes that others will read it and realize the no matter how great a driver they think they are, it's only a matter of time before something happens that will change their opinion. If you are reading this, please, PLEASE think when you go out. Even if it's sunny and 70 degrees, take it easy. There's never someplace to be that's worth possibly losing your life or taking someone else's. Take your time. Even drive below the speed limit if you have to. I know that when I get back behind the wheel, I'm no longer going to get so pissed off at people who drive slower than the posted speed. I now know WHY those speed limits are there. And if you aren't driving yet, keep this incident in mind once you get your license. Here I am, an honors student, a college-bound senior, and in the space of a minute it almost ended completely. The adrenaline hasn't really stopped pumping yet, and I'm shaking (at least on the inside if not occasionally on the outside). I feel nauseated, and I have a headache. But I'm alive. I have that much to be thankful for. I've been told that the car is most likely totalled. And I'm writing this now to help ease my mind and share this with others. Please, pass this on. Life is too short as it is to allow it to end foolishly. ALWAYS, EVEN IF YOU ARE JUST GOING 500 FEET, WEAR YOUR SEATBELT WHEN YOU ARE IN A CAR. A ROUTINE TRIP CAN EASILY END UNEXPECTEDLY, AND SEATBELTS *DO* SAVE LIVES. I'm a real person, and this was a real experience. Please don't be stupid and ignore this, for it might save you one day. |\/|ike PS-When my mother read the description of the damage, she said I have quite a talent for understatement, because the whole front of the car is smashed up. --- * Origin: Star Fleet Command BBS *v.32bis* 1-410-256-1979 (1:261/1062) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------