We were coming home from swim class on the 85 when the car in front of us started making a lane change to the left at the same time another vehicle (one lane over) was doing the same. Both cars veered back into their original lanes, but the car further in started swerving and spun out of control across our lane (in front of the car that had veered back in front of us). It continued skidding and spinning past the freeway offramp then over the embankment into the grassy ditch. This all happened before our very eyes so it was certainly a shock to the senses.

A couple things went through my mind…. thank goodness the car didn’t actually crash into the one in front of us or we would have been in a much worse accident. As the car skidded across the freeway and down the hill, it just barely missed a light pole so there probably wasn’t much damage to the car and hopefully to the passenger. And luckily, the car never rolled over once thus decreasing the likelihood of major injuries to the passenger(s).

I told Alex to stop the car on the side to call 911 since the phone was in his pocket, so we ended up on the divider between the freeway and exit ramp — we had already passed the accident scene a short distance by now and with Alex sick and two kids in the car, the only thing we could do is contact the authorities ASAP. We noticed there being only one other car that stopped next to the ditch to help. I guess he must of been the first to call the accident in since 911 seemed to have already been notified of the accident by the time Alex got a hold of them. Finally, to get ourselves to safety while making sure that help was on its way, we exited the offramp and drove around to the back of those business buildings/parking lot to get closer to the accident site. By the time we found the location again (on the other side of the fence from where the car now sits), a police car had just arrived followed shortly by a couple more police cars and the usual ambulance and fire trucks. Alex clocked the arrival of the 1st policeman at 8 minutes past the accident. We were glad that the car never actually hit anything and that a fatality was probably avoided, but Alex and I are both in a state of heightened sensitivity now when we drive. That’s why I have extreme empathy for another friend of ours who wasn’t so lucky and headed straight into a collision (thankfully without having suffered any serious injuries).