As always seems the case, the day I lost my dream car and broke my neck started
out as any other. I woke up tired, and running a little late for work. Jumped into
the shower, brushed my teeth, and got dressed. I skipped breakfast,
and figured I'd have time for a bite once I got to the office.
So I hopped into my one-year-old Eagle Talon, and took off.
Driving along, I didn't feel too rushed and cruised down the roads going an easy 110 km/hr.
Coming up from below an underpass, I saw a truck beginning to brake in front of the exit
that I needed to take to get to work. Seeing the truck's brake lights, I reflexively tapped my
own brakes to slow down. The car suddenly started fishtailing, and I quickly realized that
the roads were icy, even though I hadn't noticed before. It was easy to get the vehicle back
under control, and I continued in my forward direction towards the truck.
The truck was still braking though, and there was no visible reason why he should have been.
He probably just realized himself how icy it was. I was gaining on the truck rapidly, and I
had to act quickly if I still wanted enough room to pass without rear-ending him.
I decided it was too late to take my exit, and I'd instead just move over into the passing
lane to get by the truck for now, before backtracking to work later.
Pulling out into the passing lane, my Eagle started fishtailing again, and this time I lost control for good.
In the 65 meters that I slid out of control down the road, I was acting purely on instinct.
I reached for the overdrive button (twas an automatic) to gear down and let the engine help
in braking. I don't believe I managed to find the button, but (for better or worse), I
accidently knocked the shifter into neutral. It didn't seem to make a difference, because I
was starting to spin, and was headed off the road at 100km/hr towards the dividing, median ditch.
I knew I was going to hit the ditch, and I knew I was going to hit fairly hard. What
I expected was that I'd scratch the car up a bit, and maybe dent the front spoiler.
I was still heading forward, but at a slight angle.
I braced myself for impact, and struck....
A lady that was driving in the on-coming traffic lane with her one, eighteen month old
child, saw my 3400 pound car coming at her. My car bottomed out in the ditch, and pushed
ahead of it 15 meters of snow and frozen earth. The snow pelted the side of the woman's
vehicle like hail stones, but she managed to keep driving and stay on the road. Once
she was safely home, she continued to shake from the near miss for the rest of the day.
The ditch wasn't very deep, but the opposite side sloped upwards at a steep angle.
