Bad Things Came in Threes

By Dana Godwin

          Interview with a friend, Sara, about her recent terrifying car accidents. Sara is a screen acting major at Chapman University in California and lives in Orange County, CA.  This was done via Internet.

          On January 3, 2012, a car accident occurred that turned into a nasty forecast of many more events.  Frequent driver Sara  found herself in a less than exciting day of travel.  Sara, 22, has been a driver for about five years now and got herself in the first of a series of three accidents in two weeks.  There were no injuries that were reported and the cars were able to be repaired.  She shares her story about those mushrooming events that seemed to just keep happening and have scarred her for life.
          The first accident happened on a Tuesday at approximately two in the afternoon. 
          “I was coming out of the Post Office in my car and I realized when I turned out into the road that I was in a ‘Right Turn Only’ lane.  I wanted to go straight and there was no way that I could get over and out of the lane.  So I think ‘okay I’ll just turn right and then turn around by pulling a quick u-ie.’  So I turn right and right there on the right hand side of me is the driveway to the Post Office.  Right before I turn into the drive way to pull a U-turn, I check behind me and no one’s there," Sara recalled.
          "I pull in to turn the car around immediately to go in the opposite direction and little did I know that right after I looked in the mirror another car had turned right and was behind me.  When I pulled outta the driveway for the Post Office I crashed right into the car that had been behind me!  It was the worst sound ever!  I thought I was seriously going to die because my entire front bumper came crashing up and was pulled off of my car.  The car was honking at me and we both were swerving like crazy.  I sort of just stopped in the middle of the street in shock and started crying.” 
          Sara was fortunate that there were no injuries.
         Sara had been driving her Hyundai Accent and the person she hit had a large silver SUV.  Damages to the car seemed unavoidable, but she said, “Her car had less damage than mine. I had my entire front bumper torn off the car. It would up being around $4,000 worth of repairs, but my insurance covered all but $500, I think.”  Sara remembers the hardest part of the accident, aside from her shock, was how bad she felt for the woman she hit.  “It was a crippled woman with a walker and she was so upset. It sucked more because I felt so bad for scaring her.”
          Having been involved in a shocking accident such as this one would envision a more cautious attitude while driving.  Sara was involved in two more mini-accidents within the next two weeks!  She has become a wreck when it comes to driving now.
          “My car was in the shop getting repairs, so I had a rental car.  I went to visit my friend at her apartment complex and I was in this tiny little visitor parking square.  I was trying to turn around because there were no spots and I ended up backing the rental up into a truck!  It made a dent in the back of the car and my parents had to pay another $500 for that.”  She was already so fed up with the drama from these accidents that you would think that would be enough for her, but bad things tend to come in threes. 
          Her third and final accident of that month occurred when she finally got her own car back from the body shop.  “I finally got my blue Hyundai back.  I was excited to be driving in a car I was familiar driving.  I was driving down the road and someone rear-ended me.  It didn’t even do anything to my car really and I was so sick and tired of calling and making claims for these accidents!  So I told the woman who rear-ended me that I didn’t care and then got back into my car and drove home.” 
          Since then she says that she is a “stressed and spastic driver” because she doesn’t like the stressful driving situations that everyday driving can put you in.  She has since decided to try to avoid driving unless she needs to for work-related reasons.  Sara urges caution and patience when driving in order to avoid these terrifying and unforgettable experiences.