MY VEHICLE VERSUS 3 PEDESTRIANS

"DEAR GOD PLEASE DON'T LET HIM DIE!"  I found myself begging God not to let this little boy die.

Almost four years ago I was involved in a horrific car accident that makes my knees weak everytime I think about that day.

One Friday morning I had dropped my daughter off at school and continued South to drive my son to school.  It was the same route I took every morning, a wide residential street that seemed to be the safest route with light traffic and rarely a pedestrain in sight.

As I was preparing to cross an intersection I slowed down and looked both ways before continuing through.  ("I have a habit of slowing down even when I have the right away, just for safety purposes") At this intersection the South and North side corners have no stop signs, but have cross walks; however, the East and West side corners had stop signs, but no cross walks. 

I continue to go south and about 10 feet south after passing the intersection I hear "MOM!" and no sooner did I hear my son yell Mom I see a flash at the corner of my right side and my son yelled out that we hit someone, and I was in shock and all I could remember was should I pull over and find a place to park or stop, I really couldn't think straight, but I started to move to the right to park, but then just stopped in the middle of the street and quickly got out of my SUV and looked and saw two little boys laying down in the street, but they were I believe 20 feet from eachother.   I ran to one boy that had blood all over his face that was the blood was running in his eye, he did not look good and he was unconscious and I was screaming for my son to get my cell phone and call 911 and we couldn't get through and finally a woman ran out of her house and said she had called 911.  I remember yelling the Lords Prayer over the boy and begging God not to let him die.  I was all of a sudden surronded by many people and someone brought out a blanket for the boy.  Finally the police, fire trucks and paramedics arrive and I am beside myself and my son is trying to calm me down.  I remember crying on a policeman's shoulder and he told me these things happen everyday and he was trying to calm me down.

I asked if the mother was around and could I talk to her and they told me that it would not be a good idea and that she was in the ambulance with her sons.  All of a sudden I heard a scream coming out of the ambulance and that was a good sign, but it was from the other little boy that I didn't run to, the one I was with was still unconscious.  I saw a helicopter and it was going to be landing at my daughter's school for the boys.  The boys were taken in ambulance to the helicopter and then flown to the Children's Hospital.

My dad arrived and embraced me and was trying to calm me down and we were all worried about the boys.  My husband finally arrived too and started becoming a detective and investigating the accident.

During my questioning I was asked by one of the policemen, "Did you see a vehicle at the stop sign to your right when crossing the intersecion?"  I told him, "No", but I couldn't help thinking that I might have saw something white, but I couldn't be sure.  I was in so much shock my brian was just moosh.

After 3 hours we were able to leave the scene and they kept my vehicle for the investigation.  My son wanted to still go to school because he was in football, so we dropped him off and went home where I just kept rehashing the accident and I was sick to my stomach with how the boys were.

A couple of weeks later the police report came out and I rushed to buy it and re-read it many times over. 

The pedestrians were found at fault.  There was a van parked 10 feet passed the stop sign that they believe it blocked my view when the boys 6 and 5 at the time came running out and their mother came running after them and grabbed one of their arms to hold them back because she claims she saw me coming down and going almost 60mph through a stop sign.  The facts are I had no stop sign, but they did and they were able to determine I was at 31.5 mph which they said was a reasonable speed for that area and the boys were at 7 mph which was determined they were running.  They had darted out 10 feet below the corner on the southside with no cross walks.  The boy that I was praying over was hit by my vehicle and that was the flash that I had seen, the other boy was hit by his brother which threw his body down the street and the mother was knocked to the ground by her son.

The van that was parked 10 feet past the stop sign had left the scene and came back 30min later and gave her story.  She told the police she left the scene to take her daughter to school, but their were witnesses that claimed she was parked way passed the stop sign and left the scene and they think she was scared. 

The one boy I was praying over was in induced coma, his brother was released after one day and the mother had some scratches.  I was so depressed, I did not want this little boy to die.

Three months later the little boy is out of comma - THANK GOD!  I hear he needs time to recover before we know how he is going to be.

One year later we were being sued along with the lady that drove the white van.  This was a very stressful time for us, but with God we made it through.  They did get money from us, but not near as much as they wanted.  They wanted to take everything from us even though it was their fault according to the police report, but if it would have gone to court we were told most jurors are sympathic towards the children and it would be in our best interest to settle out of court.

After settling with the family we were told both children are doing great and the money was going into a trust fund for them and they can have the money when they are 18.

This accident brought awareness to my views on cross walks, stop signs, street lights and defensive driving. 

1.  Cross walks and Stop Signs:  If it is a large intersection in a residential area, then we need stop signs on all corners with cross walks.  I believe this would have saved my accident from ever happening or at least not so horrific.

2.  Street Lights:  I believe we need more street lights instead of cross walks.  I don't always see those cross walks and a lot of pedestrians feel just because they always have the right away that it is ok to just start crossing without looking to make sure there are no oncoming vehicles coming.  I believe street lights would save more lives.

3. Defensive Driving:  Yes, I am very much a defensive driver even when my husband drives I am in defense mode.  You can never be too careful.  However, I must say I have become a little paranoid with driving, my knees get weak when I come upon a cross walk.

I hope my story will help others to be more of a defensive driver because the unexpected can happen.  If you believe there is an unsafe intersection in your area please speak out before it brings tragedy to your family and others.

I am so thankful that these boys are living healthy lives and God did not let the boy die that I prayed over.

God Bless