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[–]airbreather020 points
1 point
1 point
(+1|-0)
ago
(edited ago)
Years ago I used to work as a delivery driver. I drove a full sized van delivering auto parts. One morning I was on my usual route, I'm on the inside lane of a four lane road. A car coming very fast in the other direction did a fast lane change, lost control and hit me head on. Both vehicles were totalled, the driver of the other car went through the windshield (no seatbelt). He lived and was convicted of dangerous driving, was an 18 year old playing rally racer with his dad's car. I had cuts, bruises, whiplash etc. The seatbelt saved my life. The police estimated an 85 mph combined speed of impact.
I also used to work as a faller (cutting down trees). I was working cutting down a bunch of trees. There was a hinged fir snag (a dead tree, with the trunk broken but still attached part way up) in the opening I was knocking down these other trees. You always have an escape route, which is opposite the tree's direction of fall and away at an angle in case the trunk comes straight back. When I started to fall the snag it fell 180 degrees the opposite way I intended it to fall. I dropped my saw and ran in the direction of my intended escape route. As the snag was fall the rest of the trunk broke free of the hinge and came down and hit me in the back of the head and neck.
I didn't know where I was for 10-15 minutes. I drove myself about 25 miles back to town to the hospital. The local doctor and x-ray tech at the hospital (in my small town) said it was just "soft tissue" injury. Two weeks later I got a letter in the mail to go the medical clinic to discuss the results of my x-rays, that were sent to the specialist in the meantime. It turned out my neck (C6) was broken in two places. So I was literally walking around with a broken neck for two weeks without knowing it. I actually went back to work the next day after this tree had fallen on me even though I could barely move my neck. Pretty stupid (and lucky) in hindsight.
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[–] airbreather02 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago (edited ago)
Years ago I used to work as a delivery driver. I drove a full sized van delivering auto parts. One morning I was on my usual route, I'm on the inside lane of a four lane road. A car coming very fast in the other direction did a fast lane change, lost control and hit me head on. Both vehicles were totalled, the driver of the other car went through the windshield (no seatbelt). He lived and was convicted of dangerous driving, was an 18 year old playing rally racer with his dad's car. I had cuts, bruises, whiplash etc. The seatbelt saved my life. The police estimated an 85 mph combined speed of impact.
I also used to work as a faller (cutting down trees). I was working cutting down a bunch of trees. There was a hinged fir snag (a dead tree, with the trunk broken but still attached part way up) in the opening I was knocking down these other trees. You always have an escape route, which is opposite the tree's direction of fall and away at an angle in case the trunk comes straight back. When I started to fall the snag it fell 180 degrees the opposite way I intended it to fall. I dropped my saw and ran in the direction of my intended escape route. As the snag was fall the rest of the trunk broke free of the hinge and came down and hit me in the back of the head and neck.
I didn't know where I was for 10-15 minutes. I drove myself about 25 miles back to town to the hospital. The local doctor and x-ray tech at the hospital (in my small town) said it was just "soft tissue" injury. Two weeks later I got a letter in the mail to go the medical clinic to discuss the results of my x-rays, that were sent to the specialist in the meantime. It turned out my neck (C6) was broken in two places. So I was literally walking around with a broken neck for two weeks without knowing it. I actually went back to work the next day after this tree had fallen on me even though I could barely move my neck. Pretty stupid (and lucky) in hindsight.
[–] Reow [S] 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
That was incredibly lucky regarding your neck - so easy to end up paralysed if you don't realize you have a broken neck.
[–] airbreather02 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
You are so right, I am very fortunate. It's a reminder of how precious life is, and how can it can be over in a second.