Carelessness Causes Accidents

Carelessness Causes Accidents

Before the summer of 2003, I lived life in the fast lane. I did everything fast. I drove fast, I worked fast, and I liked to get things fast. Like many teenagers today, I felt invincible and like I would live forever. I never really considered the immediate consequences or the long term results of actions, until the day my life and my car were flipped upside down.

It was a gorgeous June afternoon, and summer had just begun. I had just received my license, and I could not wait to go cruising in my parents new yellow Ford Expedition. I had spent the day at my friend’s house and was now on my way home. I was almost home. I just had to turn onto the gravel road for a shortcut to get to my house. I was trying to turn and put my favorite cd in simultaneously. I guess I was going a little too fast, because all of a sudden, I found myself lying in the ditch, and my truck beside me. Then, I realized a bitter taste of blood in my mouth. I slowly got up on one leg and struggled and crawled up to the road. It seemed as though no one would ever see me, and just as I lost hope, there was an old white pickup coming down the road. I used all my might to wave it down. The man in the truck started to slow down. His appearance was that of a farmer, and he did not have any way of calling for help. He waited with me and calmed me down. It seemed like an hour before another car came down the road, but in actuality it was only 10 minutes. The woman pulled over and immediately dialed 911 on her cell phone. While we were waiting for the ambulance, I was hysterical. I began to reflect on my life. I thought of my family and if I would ever see them again. I could not move or feel my left arm or leg. I felt like I was going to pass out from the pain in my broken limbs. The farmer did everything he could think of to calm me down a little bit. He asked me questions about family, school, and pretty much anything he could think of. I learned all about his wife, and his family; his grand kids, and even their grand kids. Eventually, after what seemed like three hours waiting for the ambulance, it finally got there. The paramedics rushed out, and loaded me into the wailing vehicle.

The whole way to the hospital the paramedics asked me questions about my injuries and what I remember about the accident. The pain was almost unbearable, so I told enough of what they wanted to hear, just so they would shut up. The paramedics were very uncaring if you ask me. From my experience I have learned if you get injured in a car accident the paramedics rather here about that so they can have there little gossip sessions on there lunch break. But after all that they put my arm and leg in splints and finally gave me something for the pain. After about 15 minutes in the ambulance we got to the hospital and they hauled me into the X-ray room and took X-rays of my arm and leg. They found out that my forearm bone and the bone under the biceps were broken in my left arm and that I had broken my fibula in my left leg. The breaks were not that serious, so they did not require any surgery or pins, thank goodness. Besides being alive, which was the best news I had heard all day. After that, they brought me back to the room and molded casts for my arm and leg. The one on my arm was neon pink, and the one on my leg was camouflage. One bad thing was that the broken bones would not allow me to use crutches, so I had to get around in a motorized wheelchair