We were driving to Altoona to shop for a few things before vacation the following week. The accident happened on Route 22 in the bad curve on Short Mountain where there are four lanes. Jerry was driving and as we started around the curve a motorcycle heading the opposite direction started passing a car then crossed the yellow line into our lanes. At first I was just confused about what he was doing but then time slowed down and fear surpassed my confusion as I realized he kept drifting toward us and we were about to collide. As he kept coming toward us Jerry hit the brakes and swerved right as far as he could but he couldn't get over far enough - there was an embankment on our side. At the last second the back of the motorcycle started to swing around like he was fishtailing. The back end of the bike struck the front of our car on the driver's side with a small but sickening crunch and slid all the way down the side of our car.
When we came to a stop and I looked back I saw a man lying on the road with his bike some distance away. I was frantically crying but was able to call 911. Jerry had trouble getting his door open but when he did people had surrounded the injured man. I stayed in the car with Will and tried to explain to the 911 operator where we were. I couldn't think or talk clearly enough, but he was able to pinpoint our location through my cell phone signal. After I hung up I realized my crying was upsetting Will so I tried to calm down and told him that we needed to say a prayer. We prayed for the driver's health, his salvation, and his family. We prayed for the rescue workers to arrive quickly and we prayed a prayer of thanks that we were unharmed.
People from other stopped vehicles had crowded around the man on the ground and someone started CPR on him. I lost a lot of hope for his survival though when I saw them stop CPR before the first responders arrived. The first responders arrived quickly, but each minute still felt like an eternity when you know someones life is hanging in the balance. They resumed CPR but it was (or felt) much longer before the fire trucks arrived. One fireman checked on us and helped Will and I out of the vehicle since we were parked right against the bank and the rest went to help the motorcycle driver.
The man who had been driving the car that the motorcycle attempted to pass came to talk to Jerry and told him he saw what had happened and would be sure to relate the incident to the police. He said the motorcycle had been following him just inches from his bumper and then tried to speed around him and lost control.
Several people around the injured man were hysterically crying and I eventually realized that they must be friends or family. I sympathized with their pain but was hesitant to interfere personally so I prayed again for their suffering.
Ambulances finally arrived and it wasn't until I saw two stretchers being prepared that I realized two people had been injured. I asked a rescue worker and they said the driver's wife had been a passenger on the bike but they couldn't tell me much about their condition except that a helicopter was coming to take them to a hospital outside Pittsburgh.
After the injured couple had been taken from the scene a man and woman came over to talk to us and ask if we were all ok. They told us the riders' names were Janie and Randy and that they were their best friends. They were on the way to kayak and Randy's sister was behind them with the kayaks in an SUV. She hugged me and as I expressed how sorry I was all this happened she said don't be sorry - there was nothing you all could have done. Her husband told us that Randy had been riding a motorcycle all his life but that he had just recently gotten this new bike and he shouldn't have been driving it that way. Through my tears I told her I wish things had happened differently and that I would keep praying for their family. She hugged Will and asked him if he was ok.
Will was so good the whole time. He watched them take the injured people out in the ambulance and watched the police and rescue workers doing their jobs. He asked some basic questions but mostly he was entertained by an alphabet computer game and by the honeysuckle I showed him how to taste. I think we were fortunate that he was old enough to know what happened but not yet old enough to understand death and dying to be scared and upset by the accident.
Our neighbor, Perry, was so kind to come pick us up and he arrived while they were photographing the scene of the accident. The officer told us we were free to leave after he had asked us a few questions and also told us he didn't think the driver had survived the accident and that the wife had serious injuries.
I have been working on writing this post for several days and even now, two weeks later, the accident keeps replaying in my mind again and again. I know it must be for Jerry too because at random times he will make a comment and I only know what he's referring to because the accident is forefront in my mind too. I can't help but imagine the fear and guilt the man must have felt and what thoughts of his family must have passed through his mind.
We continue to pray for the wife and her family and friends every day and also for the blessing that we were uninjured. The accident was covered by the evening news, newspaper, and radio and we read in his obituary that they have a daughter at home.
About a week after the accident Jerry heard from one of the guys at work that the wife was still in the hospital. Her ankle was shattered and she had bone fragments in her lungs. They had not yet told her that her husband passed away in the accident.
Two weeks passed without any further updates and without receiving a police report, which is needed before the driver's insurance company can authorize any charges such as a rental vehicle. We obtained a rental car on our own and have just been waiting. It's so hard to feel so close to a tragedy like this and not know how the survivors are faring. So we just continue to pray daily for the wife, their daughter and their family and we give thanks that we have the financial means to cover our expenses while waiting on the police report.
Yesterday evening Jerry received a call from the officer covering the accident. He let us know that the wife had been taken off her ventilator, which sounds like her condition must be improving, and they also told her that her husband didn't survive the crash. The officer had also received the results of the toxicology report which indicated the driver's blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit. Not being a drinker myself, I was curious just how much alcohol you would need to consume to attain that level. Did the guy have a couple beers with lunch at a picnic? According to http://www.ou.edu/oupd/bac.htm a person weighing 180 lbs. would have to consume six beers over two hours to reach the legal limit of .08%
That finding of course incited many new emotions and has prompted me to pray even more for their daughter and what she is facing as a result. I hope this will resolve quickly, but mostly I hope that it will serve as a reminder that may prevent similar tragedy and heartache for others in the future, namely Will.
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