In August of 2022, my 2005 Volvo station wagon was rear ended. I was driving home from the store with my mom, on a road near my house that I frequently take. This day, there was construction on the road which involved a stop-slow sign operated by a flagger. My side of the road was stopped and a line of cars had accumulated, so I came to a stop behind them.
A couple seconds later, the car behind me crashed into the back of my car. They must have been going 50 miles per hour. The driver must have been distracted or on his phone, not paying attention because he didn’t slow down while in stop-and-go traffic. I felt the impact suddenly when my car was hit, and a second time when my car consequently hit the car in front of it. I remember my back window shattering and my phone shooting back out of the middle console it was placed on.
I was very lucky to have my mom in the car with me because she knew to remain calm, call the police, and report the incident to our insurance once we got home. Thankfully, neither my mom nor I was hurt in the accident, but my car’s frame was bent which isn’t fixable. My car was totaled. I was very disappointed because this Volvo, which I named Betty, was my first car. But more so, I was grateful that it was my car that took the damage rather than my mom and I.
While we were waiting for the police to come and for my dad to get there, a friend who was driving by asked out her window if we were okay. An off-duty state trooper who also saw the accident kindly stopped to make sure we were alright and asked if we needed anything before going on his way. This contrasted the curmudgeon demeanor of the police officer who responded to our accident. All he asked was, “you need a tow?” We obviously did.
Once the whole thing was cleared up, my dad drove my mom and I home while Betty was towed away. We ended up getting a sum of insurance money and I now know how to respond in the event of a car accident, but when driving I am always a little anxious that the car behind me will rear end me again.
Let this be a lesson to not be a distracted driver, because you could end up totaling a 16 year old’s first car, or much worse.
