Crash!

I saw an accident yesterday. Fortunately, nobody was hurt. It was bizarre, though. The woman in front of us at the stop sign just pulled right out when there was a car coming. Sure enough, he smashed into her side. They pulled over, and we pulled over to see if we could help.

The woman was Mennonite (black car, long dress, prayer cap) and had no phone, so I offered her mine. Little did I know she was going to call all her acquaintances! I think she was on the phone for twenty minutes! While she talked, I had a chance to survey the scene. The man's car, a Saturn SL2, was a bit smashed in front. But the headlights were not broken, and the car was still running. The airbag hadn't even deployed. I don't know if this is a testimonial for Saturn or not. It seems like if you smash into something with the front of your car, the airbag should deploy. Then again, maybe it's good that it didn't when the accident wasn't very serious.

While I waited for the man to find a piece of paper for me to write down my name and number in case he needed it, I glanced into the back seat of his car. There was a carseat, but thank goodness, no child. I asked him how old his little boy was and he looked at me as though I were psychic. "How did you know?" he asked. I should've said, "Elementary," but I didn't. I just said, "I have four boys and my back seat looks just like that." There were toy cars everywhere. It doesn't take a rocket scientist!

Anyway, eventually I told the woman that I had to go and she gave me back the phone and some money to pay for the calls. I was really impressed with the two people involved. The man was completely calm - he didn't yell or scream or curse or anything. The woman was apologetic, admitted it was her fault, and had already arranged for a loaner car for the man while his car is being repaired within 5 minutes of the accident. I hope I could be that calm in a situation like that.