You may or may not know that about 7 weeks ago, I was in a car accident. I was busy minding my own business on my drive home from work when I was rear ended. My god, can I say, how stressful it is to be the victim of an accident. I was hit by a car going approx 80km while I was stationary at traffic lights. The drama certainly began the moment I was smashed into.
Not only was my car gone to pot but I was injured and treated in the Emergency Room that night.
It’s now almost 2 months later and I still don’t have full use of my right arm. I’m very lucky I was wearing a seat belt. I suspect, I may have had a run in with my windscreen if I hadn’t been (so if you take nothing from this post except this – WEAR A F**KING SEATBELT), but the damage from my seat belt from the impact at being hit at that speed has just been incredible. I have what is officially called a ‘severe soft tissue injury’ and whiplash. I’ve been in physio twice a week for two months which has been such a help as I honestly don’t think my shoulder would be even have as good as it is now. Following the accident, I couldn’t elevate my arm 10 degrees. It just felt like it was on fire. My physio has been treating my injury with immobilization, heat packs, massage, traction and various different exercises to help me on my road to recovery.
Driving has been a whole other story. I was a pretty confident driver up until this accident… I resemble those grannys peeking over the steering wheel now. Laugh all you want, but driving puts the fear of god in me. When I moved to Australia, I was convinced a snake or spider would kill me. Oh No! It will most definitely be a driver. It’s so scary driving over here, sometimes I just want to shout, ‘your car has those indicators on the side of it for a reason, they ain’t a fashion accessory”, or “its not a race around the roundabout”. Almost everybody over here has been involved in some kind of car accident which I just find so scary.
I find it incredible that through no fault of your own, somebody else making a mistake can end up costing you an incredible sum of money. Buying a new car, doctor & physio bills and lose of earnings all add up. I had an insurance company from the driver at fault call me up to tell me my car was worth feck all so they were only giving me $1200 and to try and pressure me into sending registration papers to agree to it. I’m in a fortunate position that my partner knows a thing or two about cars and wouldn’t accept the offer knowing they were taking advantage. I had 4 weeks of going back and forward with an insurance company before I handed everything to a solicitor.
And the unfortunate thing is, that won’t even be the end of it. I’m going to have to fix my car up or sell it and I’m sure I won’t be allowed to sell until everything else is dealt with which going by how much the insurance company are dragging everything out will be a long way off! I will most definitely be buying the most safety proof sturdy car out there next!
As for the future, I’ll be going to physio for the foreseeable…
