Air Bags Rule/Suck!

Friday, June 10 started like any other day: work, lunch, meetings. I needed to leave work at 4:00 to pick up a rental car for my planned trip to Chicago for my friends’ wedding. I have known Doug and Larry for years and was thrilled to be invited to their nuptials.

I left work and started down Route 8, a 6-lane expressway, like I have thousands of times, safely surrounded by my beloved green Plymouth Acura. I was driving in the far right lane in moderate traffic when suddenly the SUV two cars ahead of my slammed on its brakes, causing the SUV in front of me to brake and swerve wildly. Instinct kicked in. I moved to the right, thinking the berm would provide safe haven and slammed into one of the two vehicles parked there. The SUV braked because he thought he saw friends on the side of the road.
My airbag deployed with a shotgun-like blast. When it deflated, I was left bleeding from a broken nose and unable to use my right hand because my wrist was obviously broken. In shock, I called my brother, calmly told him about the accident and what hospital I would have the ambulance take me to, called the car rental agency to tell them to cancel my car, put a post about the accident on Facebook, and waited for police and fire department to arrive. I had to keep wiping blood off my phone.

The ride to Akron City Hospital was uneventful, except for the paramedic calling me tough for not complaining about the pain in my wrist. The broken nose eventually stopped bleeding and no one at the hospital so much as examined it. X-rays confirmed that I broke both bones in my right wrist, a special kind of fracture that can only be repaired surgically. So, my arm was immobilized and I was given a prescription for Percocet, along with an appointment to see a surgeon on Monday.

Oh, and I got cited for the accident – Assured Clear Distance, a moving violation. So I have a court date on Thursday.

My brother, God love him, came to the hospital immediately. He made record time from Atwater to Akron. He drove me to the pharmacy to drop off my Rx, then to the tow lot to retrieve some of my possessions and then home. He is driving me to the surgeon’s office Monday in Wadsworth.

I took one of the Percocets and had no real reduction in pain. Screw that. My buddy Jeremy not only took me to fetch the rest of my gear out of the Acclaim (which didn’t look too damaged, all things considered) but he also loaned me his truck to drive until I get a rental sorted out. He’s an ace!
Now, I’m just waiting for my best friend, Joe, to come over so I can regale him with this tale.

In case you're curious, this is what getting smacked in the face by an air bag looks like the next day: