Serious Car Crash

In 1996 my family and I were in a car accident in which my mother was pinned to her seat for over an hour.

We were travelling along in a 70 k/h zone when a car suddenly stopped in front of us. My dad who was driving at the time hit the breaks suddenly.

Being in a van there was no weight in the back at all so it was almost like jamming the front breaks on a bike. The van went sideways which took up both lanes. I looked out my window and saw a truck heading straight for us.

With a deafening crunchhhhh, endles scraping and gravel skidding we were all flung sideways violently in our seats. A huge cloud of dust and a icy cold draft blew over us seconds later.

I looked up and saw my mothers seat (in front of me) at a very strange angle. It was elevated almost to the roof and almost moved over to the middle of the van!

I could see mums hair blowing in the wind as she was slumped over. I knew she was in trouble. Dad turned and looked at my sister and I and said " are you both ok?" We both replied "yep".

Dad then got out. I tried to get out my sliding door but naturally it was jammed shut. I climbed through the middle and on to the drivers seat. As I did that, I looked over to see my mum's face half covered in blood.

I was hysterical literally screaming I thought she was gone! When I came over to mum's side I soon realised she was semi conscious (drifting in and out of her conscious state). she litterally begged for me to open her door but there was no way I could the door was litterally a part of the van now.

The truckie yelled "I'll go get help!". Then suddenly my dad passed out! like that was all we needed. He hit his head on the truck on his way down. wasn't too long before he came to thankfully. 5 minutes later we heard the welcoming sound of a siren. It was the police roared past us and then screeched to a halt past the truck and came over to hold mums head up.

Then sirens were endless, sevral more police cars turned up before the ambulance arrived. But she needed rescue due to being pinned. Sirens kept going as we all watched in the distance for what was coming next.

We were dissappointed when the next to arrive was a fire truck. So was the next siren! Then another ambulance turned up. I was so foccussed on my mother didn't realise my sister might not have been ok. She has pain in her stomach.

Finally rescue arrived and so did the media!!!!!! Tv camera were everywhere. They got the jaws of life out and started the pump. I was then told to jump in an ambulance with my sister and we were taken away leaving my dad and mum still at the scene.

I found out later they had to use a power saw to cut the door off. My mother recieved a fractured skull, lost the top of her ear, two bones in one arm broken, brain damage and huge laceration from where she was pinned. Despite the brain damage she is living a normal life.

My sisters injury could have been life threatening. I found out later they suspected a ruptured spleen. It did bleed a little but didn't fully rupture.

Memories of the incident still haunt me from time to time. I didn't know first aid at the time but this drove me to learn the medical knowledge I now know.