On Monday February 19, Canungra Times Senior Journalist Peter Chapman was involved in a multi car fatal accident. We see and hear about too many of these incidents. Here is his first person story:
WHEN I was only 17 I was involved in a fatal car accident in Sydney.
I was a passenger sitting in the back seat of a Corolla that was being driven too fast when we failed to take a corner and flipped the car five times.
While many years have passed, the memory of the car tossing me about like a rag doll has never diminished.
I managed to survive the crash with a small cut on my eyebrow, while a good mate sitting next to me was not so fortunate and was killed when he was thrown from the vehicle.
None of us were wearing seatbelts.
On last month I relived that moment from many years ago when a car seemingly lost control in front of me on the Mt Lindsay Highway spinning and slamming into my MG SUV.
I recall little of the initial impact, but when my car started to roll along an embankment I was transported back to that dark moment in my teenage years.
I have always believed I was a good driver, but even the best could not have avoided my accident on the highway.
There was nowhere to go, it was fate and I was later told by the police how lucky I was to survive.
They had seen the wrecked MG and told me the other car’s engine had landed 40 metres down the road.
I managed to partly free myself from the wreckage as smoke filled the cabin.
It’s amazing how people react in emergencies like this and how many pulled over and rushed to my aid dragging me from my car.
I will not forget the look in the eyes of the first woman who reached into me through my destroyed driver’s side door.
Nor the compassion and strength shown to me by veteran ambulance officer Stephen who rushed to my side.
I am writing this story from my Princesses Alexander Hospital bed where staff have overwhelmed me with professional care and kindness.
I have a long rehabilitation with a broken pelvis and a smashed rib, but I am alive.
My accident was another poignant reminder that we should all live every day to the fullest, you never know when tomorrow may be your last.
My story also gives me the chance to say thanks to those who came to my aid, I cannot put in words what it meant to me in my hour of desperate need.
