Count Your Blessings, Hug Your Kids/Family and Drive Safe

[duane1969]

I just wanted to post a little something. Tonight my 16 year old daughter and I witnessed a horrific car crash. A young man about 24 or 25 years old was driving extremely fast and wrecked just in front of us. One of the tires broke free from his truck and nearly hit our car (I swerved to dodge it). He was not wearing his seatbelt and his vehicle flipped numerous times and came to a rest about 150 yards from the road in a field. Another man and myself were the first ones to the vehicle and it was an extremely troubling sight which I will not describe and wish that I could wipe from my memory.

Had my daughter and I left the house 7-10 seconds earlier then she and I would no longer be here anymore. He would have hit us head-on doing approximately 100MPH. As troubled as my daughter and I are by what we saw I have come away with one thing. Value your life. Hug your wife. Tell your kids that you love them every chance you get. Make sure your parents know how much they mean to you. Never, ever leave anything unsaid or undone. It can be gone so quickly.

[pghin08]

Whoa man, I'm glad you guys were okay. Any idea how the kid was? Or do you think he'd passed away (you don't have to go into detail)?

[mrveggieman]

Thank God that you and your daughter are ok. All my thoughts prayers and best wishes go out to this young man and his fam. Things like this really put things into prespective.

[duane1969]

Kurt, he died. Myself and another guy were the first people to the vehicle. We couldn't find him at first and thought that he had been thrown from the vehicle. He hadn't been wearing his seatbelt and had been thrown into the rear of the vehicle (it was an SUV). I used to be an EMT and I checked him for signs of life. He had major head trauma so I was pretty sure he was deceased, but I checked anyway. I got no pulse and could not detect that he was breathing. When the emergency people arrived I told them I thought that he was gone. They rechecked and said that they thought that he had a faint pulse but before they were able to do anything to try and help him they rechecked and declared him deceased at the scene.

I have no idea why he was driving like that. The police estimate that he was doing 90MPH. He hit two trees that were as thick as a man's thigh and sheared them off at the base and severed a guide cable for a telephone pole. His vehicle came to a stop 150 FEET (not yards) from the road. The vehicle (a Ford Explorer) was so mashed and mangled that my daugher thought it was a car not an SUV.

I slept none last night. This morning my daughter was still upset and started crying when I asked her if she was OK. It was a very bad experience. Thanks for the positive thoughts. Keep this young man's family in your prayers, I am sure they need them.