Drama on the Road

We were in a car crash on Sunday evening. The great news is Frank and I are perfectly ok, and the other driver is also uninjured (although I doubt if she's ok).

We were down in the very south-west corner of Wyoming, kind of in the middle of nowhere, heading east on highway 30 towards Green River, intending to make our way to a campground in the Flaming Gorge area. It was a sunny evening and we were cruising along at about 100km/hr (well below the speed limit) on this two lane road with very little traffic, in an area of high desert.

All of a sudden, a car flew up alongside us to our right on the narrow shoulder, and WHAM she struck us from the side and sent us swerving into the oncoming lane, her alongside us, metal on metal, striking us two or three times as Frank struggled to keep control. For a moment it felt like we might flip over or end up in the ditch, but somehow we came out of it and were able to pull over on the right side of the road.

We must have sat there in stunned silence and disbelief at what had just happened. But our van was upright and we were both ok, although very shaken up. What a relief. We got out and looked at the van. Frank went to check on the other car which was behind us. I grabbed my phone and pen and paper. First thing I did was take a picture of the licence plate, in case they did a runner. Approaching the car I see a thirtyish woman wearing a baseball cap, arguing with Frank about what actually happened, claiming that he had hit her and complain about the damage to her car. She had no idea she had been driving on the shoulder and said we were in the wrong lane so she had to pass on the other side. She wasn't making a lot of sense. She never stepped out of the car.

By now another driver had stopped. He introduced himself as Josh, and told us that he had witnessed this car earlier doing about 90 m/h (about 145k/h, they don't use km in the US). She had almost hit him. So when he saw our vehicles, he had a pretty good idea what must have happened. He was like our angel, as Frank and I were quite shaken, and Josh calmed and reassured us. I called 911 (first time in my life) and was told help was on the way.

At least thirty minutes went by before the ambulance, fire department and Sheriff and eventually another State Trooper arrived. In the meantime, Josh and Frank had some further fruitless discussion with the lady, who still never stepped out of the car. Josh thought for sure she was high on something, her behaviour in the situation was very abnormal. Her left side, especially the driver door was badly damaged.

We surveyed our own van. The sliding side door had taken the biggest hit and was badly buckled. There was damage to the front end, the metal bumper, plastic moldings, etc, and a bit to the passenger door. As we thought about how much worse it could have been, we hugged each other, feeling hugely thankful. Whatever about the van, we were ok.

An hour and a half later, all statements had been given (including one from Josh) and the lady had been taken away and would be assessed. The investigation, we were told, would take several days, and the official report would be available some time after that.

I have to say the officials were all very nice and helpful to us. It was clear they felt this lady was in trouble. After making sure our van was driveable, they sent us on our way.

 The road we were driving,  about 30 mins before the accident

Green River City was still an hours drive away. We found a campground there that would have phone and wifi and other services that we might need the next day.

In the morning we had a long phone call with our insurance adjuster. Basically since our van is driveable, we chose to wait till we got back home to get the repairs done. Having it done in the US would have meant paying out of our own pocket for hotels and car rental for at least a few days. Apart from the front tire rubbing on the bumper, and the side door sometimes sticking in the locked position, we can still get along (and Frank solved the former issue with a bit of lumber used to pry the bumper clear of the wheel).

One more thing on the bright side. This crazy lady managed not to hit our precious mountain bikes mounted on the rack on the back of the van! So now we are off and ready to continue our trip, feeling extremely blessed and thankful to be safe and well.