Seeing a car crash and the memories it can bring back

ThewhiteJesus · 07-08-2020 1:28pm #1

So i just saw a dublin bus T-Bone a car outside the criminal courts on parkgate street,even though the bus driver managed to slow right down there was still an almighty thud, and it immediately transported me back to a big accident of my own, just the feeling of shock and fear it was a surreal experience.This or anything similar ever happen to anyone ?

Gretas Gonna Get Ya! · 07-08-2020 4:50pm

Seen a car in a ditch when I was out jogging one day on some backroads, guy was drunk but not injured... the moment I seen the car, it brought flashbacks to when I was first on the scene of a much worse accident. That feeling of being sort of helpless when someone is in a bad way... leaves a bit of a scar in your mind.

How the hell paramedics deal with that everyday is beyond me.

[Deleted User] · 07-08-2020 5:15pm

Remember witnessing an accident decades ago on the quays where a car on the green (Coming across a Bridge) was collided into a woman who broke the red along the quay. Brand new little Renault 5, I saw it spinning in circles as it screeched, and saw where the fuel tank was potentially breached. I ran over to it in a state of shock myself, and poked my head in through the broken glass, where the woman was paralysed with shock rather than injury, and I was trying to urge her out of the car in case it blew up, but she was literally frozen with the emotional trauma of it. It was a sobering experience, thankfully without serious consequence other than destruction of car which thankfully had plenty of room to shed its kinetic energy reasonably safely.

Wanderer2010 · 07-08-2020 8:46pm

I was in a potentially fatal car crash when I was 9 or 10- a neighbour was driving me out to his house and I was in the back seat with my buddy, no seat belt on, and the passenger door was loose, which only became apparent when we took a roundabout fairly hard and the door suddenly flung open as I was leaning against it. If I hadn't grabbed the back of the front passenger seat in the split second I did, I would have had my brains spread all over the road and my body driven over by the line of traffic behind us. Gave me nightmares for years afterwards and even now if im the back seat, ill belt up straight away and psychologically brace myself to grab the seat in front of me if we do a sharp turn...

[Deleted User] · 07-08-2020 9:17pm

That sounds pretty traumatic, OP. I'm not surprised your feelings were triggered at that memory and it was unsettling. It's perfectly normal, and not surprising.

I had a car mount the pavement and run over my foot, it happened very quickly and I remember the terror of knowing I hadn't gotten out of the way in time. Sometimes I get a flash of that back, it's very unwelcome. I'd say its very common.

Badly Drunk Boy · 07-08-2020 9:48pm

I witnessed a minor car crash today. On the way home from work as I approached a crossroads in a residential area, the traffic coming towards me had a filter to the right. A woman on the left suddenly decided that she wanted to go right and got clipped by a van that was correctly turning right. Her car was stuck in the middle of the crossroads for way too long, creating a dangerous situation as people tried to get by.

The first crash I was in was on the way to the infamous Sonic Youth/Nirvana gig in August 1991 in Dún Laoghaire that 70,000 people said they went to.

We were travelling from Kildare, and I was with a friend and a friend of his, who was driving. We were in the South Dublin suburbs approaching a set of traffic lights when everything went green, and there was a bump.

The driver of the car I was in had gone through the traffic lights when he shouldn't have, and crashed into the side of a Dublin Bus. We weren't hurt but the cars lights were smashed so our driver headed home, not wanting to drive back from Dublin in the dark without lights, so left us stranded. We eventually got a taxi from a driver who was driving into his garden after his shift, so we got the the gig. :cool:

Potential-Monke · 08-08-2020 1:24am

Haven't witnessed any big crash (just a few fender benders), but while a Garda I attended quite a few for the aftermath. Some were ok, bit of blood, head injury from hitting some part of the inside of the car, sore limbs, etc. It's the fatal ones that'll stick with me. While in training, I attended a scene about 30 minutes after the crash "for experience". It was a fatal. Truck and car head on. Everything was under control and road sealed off so waiting on forensics at that stage. Body had been removed. Chief Fire Officer showed me how it happened and the aftermath. Showed me the car, and honestly there was no space between the read seats and the steering wheel. It was accordioned by the impact of the truck. CFO said that they had to take the body out in pieces. Still loads of blood in the car, and I daren't look for longer.

Was at another scene where the deceased driver, after hitting a wall head first and flat out in an old (read: no airbags) car. I was present as the paramedics removed his body, and it was like trying to pick up a large heavy curtain. I believe the vast majority of bones were shattered. Took a few people. Also present for a few post mortems on crash victims, and even without the visceral blood, not a pretty sight. Another Garda told me he attended a scene of a motorbike/truck crash, and was asked to finder the riders helmet in a nearby field. They never told him the head was most likely still in it, which it was.

Tell you this much, it changed how I viewed cars, I now drive to the limit in one of the safest cars I could afford, belt on, and ensured numerous airbags all around me. Scary stuff, and does leave an imprint. CFO mentioned above said you don't get over stuff like that, you just get used to it. Explains why lots of older generation Emergency Service personnel were big into drinking.

BeerWolf · 08-08-2020 2:37am

Seen someone running across a highway get hit by a car at full speed, sent somersaulting high into the air with their slippers flying about. Also saw the aftermath of a motorcycle accident with the dead motorist and their brain scattered about...

Horrible things to witness as a kid.

ILoveYourVibes · 08-08-2020 8:35am

Hope you are ok OP.

Hope the person in the crash was too.

unhappys10 · 08-08-2020 8:45am

When we were kids my friend saw a bin lorry reversing outside his house.
The binman hanging off the back fell, the driver didn't see him and continued to drive over his head. My friend saw it all.
Haven't seen him in years, turned into a bit of a recluse.

I think some of you might get over seeing a fender bender.

Pkiernan · 08-08-2020 8:49am

unhappys10 wrote: »

When we were kids my friend saw a bin lorry reversing outside his house.
The binman hanging off the back fell, the driver didn't see him an continued to drive over his head. My friend saw it all.
Haven't seen him in years, turned into a bit of a recluse.

I think some of you might get over seeing a fender bender.

You're so tough dude!

Wibbs · 08-08-2020 2:13pm

20 odd years ago one late night coming back into Dublin on the Naas duel carriageway as it was then(grandpa Simpson voice), I was in the inside lane doing around 60 MPH as was the fashion, in old money. Happy out. I see lights coming up fast on the outside lane. The guy passed me doing at least 100 MPH in a Peugeot hatchback IIRC. Grand says I to myself "he'll get a slow ride in a hearse"... He disappeared over a crest in the road and just as I came over said crest I saw him about 500 odd metres away plough straight into a car that was coming across one of the too many crossings that used to be on that road.

The surreal thing was it didn't register at first, because it looked like the car had turned into a big puff of smoke in front of me the impact and energies released were so strong. As I came closer to the accident I could see the two cars or what had been two cars now in three distinct pieces with smaller bits scattered about. I had just gotten a mobile phone so rang 999, threw on my hazards, pulled over and got out. Total silence. That's when I had the cold realisation that my jokey prediction about hearses was probably right. Screams might sound bad but it means people are conscious, their hearts and lungs are working and they're alive for the moment, so you always attend to the non screamers first. But nothing. A couple more cars showed up and the Guards and ambulances showed up very quickly, but it seemed it was a clean up at that stage. I gave the Guards my statement and drove home.

I did hear later that one person in the crossing car survived. I don't know how, because what I saw of what was left of what had been breathing, alive human beings moments before impact doesn't bear the weight of description.

Seeing a car crash and the memories it can bring back

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