On the way home from the wedding the other night, we had a wee accident. On the way to the wedding, Justin had said that he trusted himself to be able to stop but he didn’t trust the guy behind him to stop if there was an accident. Little did we know that it was a prophetic statement.

We were on our way home, going from Kentucky to Ohio on 471 & the Daniel Carter Beard Bridge. Suddenly there were a lot of brake lights and cars swerving. Justin couldn’t swerve but he was able to stop. However, just as predicted, the guy behind him did NOT stop, and we got rear-ended. In the other car’s defense, he did try to brake and swerve, he just ultimately failed.

We pulled over to the shoulder as did the car that hit us. It was then that we were able to see what happened. A white Subaru Forester bounced off the median that split 71 & 471. The car spun out and ended up in the middle of the three-lane highway.

A couple of other bystanders had pulled over to help. One person appeared to have helped the driver out of the car and was standing with her on the side of the road. Another bystander stopped by our car to check to see if we were ok. He was an off-duty West Chester cop. He also checked on the car behind us. Later we found out that the man who hit us lived about a mile and a half away from us. It was a West Chester kind of night.

A fire truck, EMS and police arrived on scene shortly after. Each first responder stopped to make sure we were ok. I was so impressed by the care they showed. We saw the fire fighters check to make sure that the first car wasn’t leaking fuel. It must have been fine because they left first. I saw the EMS take away the driver of the Forester. She appeared to be an older woman who acted confused and hurt (for obvs reasons). My speculation is that she had some sort of medical emergency. Whether she got confused by the signs, lanes, or something more serious, I think that is the most likely scenario.

We sat on the highway for at least an hour when the tow truck showed up. I’ve never seen a car be pulled onto a flat bed. It was fascinating to watch. So, now the car had a way home, but what were we supposed to do? One nice police officer told us that a grumpy police officer would drive us over to the DORA section next to the stadium where they had a small station. We all tried to get in the back of an SUV designed for criminals, and not for women wearing dresses. Mom especially had a hell of time trying to get in the vehicle. Her bad hip was displeased. We quickly discovered that all three of us would NOT fit. Justin stayed behind with the nice police officer and the grumpy one drove us away. I talked to him a little bit and he seemed to warm up to us some. By the time we got out of the police car, he was almost friendly. We went to the little police station to wait for Justin.

Once Justin reached us, we had to call a Lyft. We stood in front of the Yard House to wait. The Lyft showed up and drove us home. I probably would have remembered Miranda’s wedding any way, but now I know it’s a night I’ll never forget.