Updated on: 5/17/2017
Tiffany Johnson has a Master’s degree in Criminal Justice from Kaplan University. Now, she’s working on a Crime Scene Technician certificate. Tiffany hopes to use her degree to fight for justice in the American legal system.
The date was August 29, 2016; the gleaming sun was radiating all throughout Mother Nature’s exquisiteness. The sky was shaded in pale blue, whilst only a selective few clouds could be perceived. They were placed almost half-hazardously, none nearby to one another. It was approximately 90 degrees outside; the humidity was practically sweltering, forcing all individuals to take all precautionary measures available to them to ensure they did not overheat. At that particular moment, I was relishing in my gratefulness of a working air conditioner within my automobile due to the fact that I was traveling to observe several underage family members of mine partake in various types of football games; this ranged from flag football up to a middle school team. The time was approximately high noon, and my cousin, my son, and I were cruising along down the interstate. Unknowingly, on the opposite side of the interstate, there was a man driving a big rig that would ultimately change my life.
Deep in conversation inside my 2005 Chevrolet Malibu, the world outside seemed nonexistent. However, in a moment’s time, we would quickly be revived on how irrefutable that is. The two vehicles became almost perpendicular to each other, yet there was one dominant contradiction- the tractor-trailer began losing control. Swerving back and forth, unable to locate a proper stabilization, the semi had no other choice but to tip over. The majority of the truck was taking up a large chunk of the median, and also, some portions of it could be detected in the lane I was currently driving in. Notwithstanding, the second my peripheral illuminated the erratic behavior of the gigantic moving automobile, my initial instinct kicked into overload that I should be speeding up and moving as far away from the scene as humanly possible. Scientifically, it was not obtainable to fully remove up entirely from the situation; thus, we had to brace ourselves for what was to come. I yelled to my five-year-old son seated in the back to close his eyes and duck. I did the same, but not before acknowledging we were impelling ourselves into a cloud of dust. Fragments of the semi as well as remnants of the landscape surrounded my mid-size family car and pummeled every inch it could. The reverberation mirrored what a car wash consisting of water made up of rocks would sound like. The vibration of the smacking debris alone was a preponderance of what the future was going to hold for the three individuals experiencing this concurrence in its entirety. Milliseconds were all it took for it to be concluded; though, when I freed my eyes from being shunned away from the situation, I was in utter astonishment. I anticipated a broken windshield amongst other things, yet that wasn’t the result at all. The glass was completely intact, and all three persons would walk away injury-free. Nevertheless, the hood and roof of the automobile appeared as if someone unloaded several guns with multiple rounds of bullets.
Upon the realization of the health and safety of my family, my focus maneuvered its way towards the other vehicle. My 6 foot, 1 inch blonde-haired adult male cousin took it upon himself to approach the gravity of the other driver’s circumstances. The male driver was knocked unconscious for several moments and was also trapped inside of his seatbelt. The rig was releasing oil onto the cement ground; therefore, making it imperative the two escape unhesitatingly. In the midst of the chaos, law enforcement became present. They attended to the urgency of the other motorist then, once the crisis had been resolved, gathered a statement from each of the two male figures. Meanwhile, my son and I maintained our locality, roughly 200 yards at a distance from everyone and everything else. Subsequential to the determination of the livelihood of the man in question and my relative providing his stance in the collision, we were advised to remove ourselves from the area.
There was an exchange of insurance information amongst the two men. However, certain stipulations remained perplexing. For instance, the police never questioned me or documented my depiction. Thereafter supplementary analysis, I arbitrated that the probability may have been due to the officers postulating the car had minimal damage and/or because there were no injuries (Araujo, 2017). The male driver specified the reasoning behind the loss of containment was a result of him bending over to pick up a beverage. My suggestion to him would be to utilize all the safety precautions required for interstate truck driving. There is a daily limit of 14 consecutive hours in which a motorist can work within a 24-hour period. During that timeframe, a person can take off-duty alleviation, which could consist of a lunch break or rest (Interstate Truck Driver’s Guide to Hours of Service, 2015, page 3).
In order to prevent any future encounters such as the one we ensued, I hope for his sake, and for the sake of others, he pulls over into a proper location where he can do whatever is desired without jeopardizing any lives. August 29, 2016 is a day Ill never forget. The sound of the debris still resonates throughout my ear canal. Nonetheless, it is a day that I am incredibly grateful for. Four people were granted the ability to walk away from a situation that had the potential to take any of our lives.
Works Cited
Araujo, M. (2017). How to Report Your Car Accident to the Police. Retrieved from https://www.thebalance.com/your-car-accident-and-the-police-2645863
Interstate Truck Driver’s Guide to Hours of Service. (2015). Retrieved from https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/sites/fmcsa.dot.gov/files/docs/Drivers%20Guide%20to%20HOS%202015_508.pdf