Yesterday (July 19, 2008) was all about sliding doors for us.
We took Juli Green, a friend whose iPhone had developed a problem, to Baton Rouge so she could have it checked out at the Apple store. Adam was supposed to go with us, but he bowed out at the last minute to nurse a hangover acquired the night before.
Apple replaced Juli's iPhone in no time and we went off for pizza at Fleur De Lis Cocktail Lounge, which happens to have the best thin crust pizza in Louisiana. I was driving, so no booze. I had iced tea. On the way out of Baton Rouge we stopped by Kohl's department store. Just before heading back to New Orleans we picked up a couple of sodas and a root beer float at Wendy's for the hour or so trip back.
Interstate 10 between New Orleans and Baton Rouge has become more of a raceway, with people traveling 80-90 mph or more. While I am no stranger to speeding myself, I wasn't in the mood for it on the way back. None of us had anywhere we had to be at any particular time, so I got off the interstate at Highway 61, about 1/2 way between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
From the early 1940's until I-10 was built, Airline Highway was the main thoroughfare between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. A fun, but unsubstantiated rumor is that then governor Earl Long had it built so he could get to New Orleans faster to see Blaze Star, a stripper with whom he was having an affair. It is a 4 lane, divided highway for most of the way. Today, it is much less-travelled than I-10 and also gives one the opportunity to see such communities as Gramercy and LaPlace, which I-10 bypasses. It also affords a much closer look at the Bonnet Carre Spillway. Traveling Airline Highway also misses the construction on I-10 in New Orleans, which can become quite congested.
In other words, we were having a lovely day. Got an iPhone replaced, ate some great pizza, did some shopping, and were having a relaxing drive home. Just past the New Orleans airport is where things went south, so to speak.
Cell phones are wonderful things. At one time or another I am sure most of us wondered how we ever got along without them. In fact, if you just stand on a busy street corner in most cities and watch the cars go by, roughly 1 in 3 drivers will be talking on their cell phone. If you are one of those people, stop right now. Here's why:
Chuck & Janis' Jeep after the accident
We were minding our own business, nearly home, and I had come to a complete stop behind two cars, the first of which was waiting for oncoming traffic to clear so they could turn left. Janis was in the passenger seat, and Juli was in the back seat, installing applications onto her new iPhone. I had left enough space between our Jeep and the car in front of me to switch to the right lane to get around them. As I look in the rear view mirror, I see a pickup truck bearing down on us at full speed. Janis said I was about to speak, but all she heard was my intake of breath and then BAM!
We were rear-ended full force by a pickup truck going 50 mph. Juli said it was one of the loudest noises she has ever heard. We were hit just to the right of center and pushed us over the thin median strip (which was more of a curb that divided the opposing lanes), into oncoming traffic. The force of the impact pushed both of the front seats down to their reclined position, one of them hitting Juli in the face. In this reclined position, I held onto the steering wheel and managed to get us around the two vehicles ahead of us and out of oncoming traffic, back into our lane, narrowly missing a head-on collision with a large SUV (who also swerved). Still not sure how I avoided hitting anything myself. We finally came to a full stop 150 feet or so from the spot of the impact. It took me a full minute before I had enough presence of mind to turn off the engine and look around.
Janis and I seemed OK, but Juli was definitely in shock. She started to hyperventilate, so I told her to focus and started breathing with her. (Those Lamaze classes 27+ years ago finally paid off!) A little blood was coming out of her nose, which had already swollen up a bit. At this point, we were all pretty sure she broke it.
The driver of the pickup that hit us was reaching down for his cell phone and didn't see the stopped traffic ahead. His airbags deployed and he declined medical attention. Not sure of how badly Juli might be hurt, we called 911 and asked for an ambulance. She was taken to East Jefferson Hospital in Metairie, where they determined her nose was not broken, but her neck was strained. Janis and I were not hurt, although I appear to have a bruised and swollen knee and a few pulled muscles (mostly from holding onto the steering wheel in that reclined position). Janis says she feels guilty because she is not sore at all.
I called Cary, who had Adam come in and work for him so he and Juli's boyfriend Mikey could come out in Mikey's car to get Janis and me. We then went and waited for her to get out of the hospital. While at the hospital I removed my glasses and felt something sticky on the side of my head. I got a little worried, thinking it might be blood (mine or someone else's), but since there wasn't any blood anywhere else and I had no pain in my head, I quickly ruled that out. It turns out Juli's root beer float hit me in the side of the head during the impact. After Juli was released, we returned to Coop's (Juli and Mikey live in an apartment above the bar). We are borrowing Mikey's car right now until we can contact our insurance company and start getting things figured out.
While at Coop's, one of the regulars there chided us for being at a bar right after the accident (it wasn't right after - it was about 4 hours after it happened). He said it weakens our case. I am not sure how much of a case we have, since no one was seriously injured, but I do know this: there are two types of people in the world after an experience like that - those who go to church and those who go to a bar.
The regulars at Coop's - our extended "bar family," - all gave us hugs when we arrived. These were not your average hugs, either. They were your extended glad-you're-alive-I'm-going-to-squeeze-the-stuffing-out-of-you type of hugs, and we were all very happy to receive them, as things could have turned out far worse.
The Jeep is, of course, totaled. The repair costs would obviously be more than the value of the vehicle at this point. The other driver was a delivery person for Papa John's, which is a good thing, because they are required to carry insurance. People have already advised us to call Morris Bart, but I don't know. I am not a litigious person, and we need to see what the insurance company is going to do.
So Sliding Door #1 was when Adam decided not to come along. Given his height, he would have been in the passenger seat and Janis would have been in the back with Juli, and both could have been hurt much worse.
Sliding Door #2 was Janis's request that we stop at Kohl's department store, which delayed us enough to put us in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Sliding Door #3 was when Janis decided to do her computing work in the front seat instead of the back. Had she been in the back, she may have had her computer open at the time of impact and both she and it could have been hurt.
Sliding Door #4 was my choice to pull off the interstate and take Airline Highway instead.
It is human nature to blame oneself. "I should have stayed on the Interstate," or "We shouldn't have stopped at Kohl's." But the truth is that these are just a random series of choices that could have gone one way or the other and who knows - perhaps making the choices we did saved us from a worse fate on the Interstate.
The only blame here goes to the guy reaching for his cell phone. He should have known better. So please - if you don't have handsfree - don't talk on the phone or text or google while driving. I gotta believe that in many ways, being the person who caused the accident is probably worse than getting hit, and I would hate for any of you who read this to be in that position.
I'll post an update as we find things out.
By the way, if you'd like to see Sliding Doors, it will be on The Movie Channel (TMC) tonight (Sunday, July 20, 2008) at 9:30 PM and tomorrow (Monday, July 21, 2008) at 5:00 AM.
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