911 Call

I promised a post about my drive home from the airport, so here it is. After dropping Travis off at the airport last Sunday, I drove back around and sat in the park and wait to see if his flight would be delayed and he could jump on the later flight. After waiting 30 minutes or so, he called and said that they would be leaving on time and I should just head home. I thought this was crazy because there was already a lot of snow on the ground and it was still snowing.

Anyways, I left the airport not looking forward to my long journey ahead in the snow. Because the roads were snowy/icy, I had to drive slow and I was on high alert. (I do have to say, my car is amazing in the snow. I love it!) I had a lot of experience in Canada driving in the snow, so the part that scares me the most is not my own abilities, but the cars around me. I saw some idiot drivers going to fast or just doing stupid things.

At one point, I was driving alongside another car and up ahead of us there was another car. All of the sudden, the car in front of us started spinning. He was in the far left lane and he spun across all 4 lanes of traffic and hit the barrier on the left side. The car beside me swerved around him and kept going. I had to slow down so I wouldn't hit him, but I didn't want to stop too fast or I would lose control too. I pulled over to where his car had come to a stop. Then a million thoughts started going through my head. I looked at him and he looked dead. He was just bent over not moving. I decided that the best thing to do was to go ahead and call 911 so they could head over right away.

I sat in my car and called 911. "911 What is the location of your emergency?" "uhhh...I think I am on 215" "What happened?" "I just saw a man get in an accident." "Does he need medical attention?" "uhh...can I get out of my car and go see?" At this point the lady probably thinks I am crazy. I don't really know where exactly I am and I ask her if I can go talk to the man. I go up to him and I open his door. I tell him that I called 911 and ask if he needs medical attention. He said he hurt his arm but he is ok. I tell the lady his response and she says "ok, let me transfer you over to police dispatch."

"Police dispatch, what is the location of your emergency." We already went through this. I don't really know. I just follow the signs from the airport. I say, "I think I am on 215." She asks which exit. I ask the man if he knows where we are and he looks around and sees a Pepboys sign and says we are by Pepboys. Great. Then I remember that I just passed California avenue. "Are you going north or south?" "I don't know. I am coming from the airport and headed towards Provo." The lady probably thinks I am crazy. I just can't really think at this point in time. Hopefully I never see an accident that is serious or we are in big trouble. "Is the accident on the left or right side of the road?" "Right" (that was easy) "What kind of car is it?" I ask the man what kind of car he drives and he couldn't really think either. Finally he gets out that it is a Sebring. "A Chrysler Sebring" "What color is it?" "Silver" Are the questions ever going to end? She went on and on...you get the idea.

Finally she said. "The Police is on their way. Now, you need to go get in your car and turn your hazard lights on or leave if it is safe to do so without causing another accident." First of all, my hazards were on. Second, she wants me to leave this poor man here all by himself?!? I tell him the police are on the way and he can just wait. He replies that he is not going to wait because he will freeze to death before they get there. He told me that he wanted to try to drive away. Here I am, little 24 year old Amber, telling big 50 year old man what to do. I said, I don't really think that is a good idea. I think you should wait until the police arrive. I remind him that his bumper is no longer attached to his car and that he has no trunk because it has been crushed. He was like, "no, no, I think I can go." (he was a little crazy) So me, not wanting to get hit and realizing that my car was blocking his view to oncoming cars said, "Well, let me move my car so you can see." Not knowing what else to do and remembering that the police said I can leave, I start to drive away. I drive slowly so I can watch in my rear view mirror what happens.

I see him start to drive, but he doesn't make it far. Not wanting to cause an accident myself, I continued on. I don't know what happened to that man. Hopefully the police found him and didn't think I was just some crazy person calling in a fake accident because they got all my information too. I never heard from them so I assume they found him. It was an exciting morning if nothing else.