Live Another Day

On February 20, 2013 Mark had the afternoon off.  So he took the truck and ran errands.  In the evening, he picked Pauline from work.  We were looking forward to getting home to the boat, where a couple of nice steaks were waiting to be eaten.

As we were driving in the middle lane going southbound, a blue Toyota sedan came screaming across the road, right in front of us.  Mark immediately applied the brakes but it was too late to stop and we crashed into the side of the other vehicle.  As usual, the airbags deployed but the speed at which the other vehicle was going caused both vehicles to the side of the road and we crashed again, into a huge tree.  By then the airbags had deflated.  Having never been in accidents where the airbags deployed, we smelled smoke and saw smoke.  First thing Pauline did was asked if Mark was ok.  He said "Yes, but I think the car is on fire".  So we both got out of the truck, real quickly.

We saw that the other vehicle had also crashed into a tree.  The miracle is that there is a house between the two trees.  What is also a miracle is that all four of the occupants in the vehicles got out alive.

The police arrived, together with the fire trucks and ambulances.  Even the tow trucks were there.  Mark had filled up 5 jerry jugs full of water and tied them to the back of the truck and these broke loose and crashed into and smashed the storage box in the back and fell onto the road.

The ambulance transported us to the hospital, where we had x-rays, blood tests and pee test to determine if we had broken bones, internal injuries, etc.  About 5 hours later, we received the good news that we didn't break anything and sent home.

The driver of the other vehicle is a 16-year old, pregnant girl with no license or permit to drive and the car was a rental.  It was alleged that she was having an argument with her boyfriend while driving and going at 55 mph.  She crossed the northbound lane, plus the 'suicide' lane and the left lane of the southbound lane, right across our path.  If we did not hit her vehicle, she would have driven right across 7 lanes of traffic and crashed into the house.  I don't think she would have thanked us for saving her life plus that of her unborn child.  She didn't even say sorry for causing the accident.

We are waiting for the police reports and insurance reports but we believe the truck is totaled.  We are planning on leaving Guam in a year's time and are a little upset about losing the truck.  We would now have to look for another truck.  Our trusty, rusty old truck was very reliable and took care of our needs to ferry water jugs and diesel and petrol jugs.  We also paid a really good, cheap price for it and it would be difficult finding another cheap and good conditioned truck.

We are badly bruised up and in pain, and we complain about it but we are very thankful that we are alive and not seriously hurt.  Through this accident, we also came to experience the kindness of the people of Guam.  The EMTs were reassuring and gentle, even if they had to put a neck brace on Pauline and strapped her onto a backboard and gurney, despite her protest.  One of the witnesses stayed till we left in the ambulance.  Pauline’s boss, Tim drove to the hospital to see us.  Our friend John also came down to the hospital and offered help.  Kerry was at the scene almost immediately and helped us take some of our stuff out of the truck.  Chris drove her car to the hospital and left it there for us to use.  The next day, when we returned Chris’s car to her, she invited us to their place for dinner (just so we didn’t have to deal with cooking).  Everyone was so concerned about us and we really felt the love.

Some photos of the truck and the car we hit.  We are still amazed that none of us were badly hurt or dead.  In her dreams, Pauline had wanted to buy a mini cooper but she has now changed her mind.  Now she is looking at armored vehicles!!