Saturday, July 20, 2013

Sigh..

If I would still have had my gall bladder, I'm sure I would've felt bile coming up my throat..

There were 4 of us in the car and it was only 5:15 AM. We had just turned on to the Highway on our way to Bruges Railway Station, when we saw this black, sporty car. It was not looking its best. The roof of the car had been scraping over the street. Since it was still 18°C, the window at the driver's side was rolled down. We could see a young male, wearing a white short sleeved T-shirt. He was in deep trouble. A young couple in a black Mini Cooper had just stopped and was running towards the car that had landed upside down on its roof. A truck was involved into the accident as well.
It was not looking good at all. My stomach twirled and I told my daughter to look the other side. I tried to keep my eyes focused on the traffic light and it had never taken so long to jump green. A bunch of young people - I assume around 8 - were in despair, walking around the car and looking for help. Despite the warm morning, all of a sudden I was really cold. Whose parents would get a phone call, this early in the morning? In which house would a mom howl like a wolf for her lost son? Whose dad would try to keep back his tears, his arms holding on to the woman who once put this child into this world?

Was there a technical problem with this car that made it cause this accident? Was it speeding? Were alcohol or maybe drugs responsible for this awful ordeal or a combination of? I don't know. I could only hope there were no other youngsters involved. Somehow I felt the presence of friends in this car and all of them had gone out together and were on their way looking for some more fun. The good weather must have made them feel invincible. So many lives will be torn apart again. All this grief and pain and sorrow for a night full of happiness and laughter.

Am I crazy for picking up our daughters after a night out? Is it selfish to ask them not to get loaded or forbid them to get into the car of a driver who's been drinking?
This is not what I was thinking of, when I told my daughter to get up early this morning, to be in time to leave for the Railway Station. She couldn't understand why we had to get going at 5 AM if the train wouldn't leave till 6:25? I told her there could always be obstacles on the road and I didn't want her and her companions to miss the train to Paris. Her friend's mom told me, her older son had not come home yet, from his night out. It freaked her out to see this accident. My daughter thought she saw her cousin looking at the wrecked car. I hope he was in bed, where he should be at this time of the day.

I wanted to go back to sleep, after I came back from Bruges. Blue police lights and orange lights from the towing service, were there to prevent others from bumping into the wreck. I saw nothing but uniformed men. The ambulances had already left the scene and the bystanders had gone home, trying to get this experience out of their system. I knew I would be checking the newspaper regularly this morning. It will be a while before this devastating image burned into my brain will have faded..

Only a couple of hours later, I read the newsflash. A truck driver was crossing the highway, when this young man wrecked his car by speeding a red light, into the back of the truck. Severely injured, but alive, and with alcohol in his system, the driver of the car was taken to the hospital. Let's keep our fingers crossed he will come out of this accident without too much damage...

2 comments:

Scott K. Johnson said...

Oh my - I'm so sorry you guys had to see that. Gives me chills just thinking about it.

www.kokenenhogehakken.blogspot.be said...

You know Scott, one always wonders what happened to the victim. Will he get better? Will there be serious consequences for the rest of his life?

My grandfather died because of the severe injuries after a car crash. A drunk driver hit his car. The pain never goes away...