Wow, Car Accident

[Archem]

Ok, so my house has the only nearby street right behind it, and it's a simple two-lane street with no lights or traffic, and two deep ditches on either side. About five minutes ago, I hear a loud squealing and a crash. I look out back and see a smoking vehicle right on the other side of my back fence. An ambulance is right outside my window as I type. Sweet Jesus, I'm full of adrenaline right now. I hope the driver is ok. Man, more emergency vehicles are showing up right now. People are all over. I think someone said the driver isn't breathing. The car is definitely on fire. I'm totally shaking right now. I've never seen the normally pitch dark street like this right now. My two dogs are flipping out.

Excitement, I suppose.

[Archem]

Pictures taken on a camera phone. Blurry, shaky, and not well adjusted, but they're pictures.

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[Moosetroop11]

Weirdly enough, if I saw a car accident outside my house, I would barely even find it noteworthy, let alone tell people about it 0_o

Does that make me heartless? I mean, unless I knew the people in the crash.

[Archem]

My dad is pissed because my sister is all sunshine sparkles about this. For her, it's a cool spectacle. For my dad, it's a terrifying reminder of how she drives around at night and stays out until the wee hours of the morning. I really wish that the two of them would shut up with their constant arguing right now.

Update sorta: Pretty sure the driver (seems to be a teenage girl) is dead. Big gash in the side of her head, paramedics aren't acting with any level of haste.

[Archem]

Ok, so I'm not getting sleep tonight, I can see that. I'm wound up tighter than some kind of a spring on Jupiter or something. Dead girl, younger than me, right on the other side of my fence. I'm pretty tense, slightly nauseous, and I think I'd rather not hear my family talking about it with their eclectic views on this (ranging for dead-serious to completely ecstatic). I'm pretty sure my emergency phone call was the first one through, but a few other cars had stopped on the road by the time I snapped about what had just happened. Yikes, this is intense.

Sorry in advance if I massively multi-post. Kind of hard to keep my cool right now.

[Archem]

My dad's going out right now to pick my younger brother up from some school. Some kind of band event. I have never been so worried about this as I am right now. My brother's going to flip, I think. Hope it's not someone he knows from school. Might not be, since he's still pretty new there, but still.

Guh, I think I might end up throwing up sometime soon if all this adrenaline doesn't work its way out of my system. Also, I've never had such a hard time typing the word "system". Typos everywhere. Red squiggle is my nemesis right now.

[Prpl_Mage]

Ah the adrenaline rushes, makes life worth living. I think I've grown too content with life as it is, walked down town and saw a car laying upside-down and just kept walking without a care in the world. I guess it's worse if it happens so close to you though, not like it's possible to escape it. And of course even worse if it's someone related.

[FFL2and3rocks]

Wow, I don't really know how I'd feel if something like that happened around me... closest thing that's happened here was a murder one street over from me. I never saw anything happen though, and I didn't know the guy, but the thought of a killer being in my area was a bit scary.

[Grandy]

I got my driving license about... six months ago. But I hate driving, because I always imagine it'll end like that, no matter how careful I am.

In fact I almost crashed in two cars in sequence two months ago, and refused to drive since. I've got to get back to it sometimes before I forget the basics, but... scary stuff.

(If you're wondering, I didn't see the red light, stopped just before crashing on another car, he made frenetic moements of "well goddamn if you're this far in the lane just go ahead!" and I was like "NO!" and he's like "JUST GO ALREADY" asnd everyone started honking because I was breaking the goddamn flow of a major street and I snapped and went foward... and almost crashed on another car coming the other way. Then, arriving home, I gave the keys to my father and said nevermore.)

[HackersTotalMassLaser]

This is pumping your adrenaline?

You really don't get out much.

[Dragonium]

Son, you ain't seen a car accident until you've seen a British car accident.

[Archem]

So they removed the body at about 12:45 last night. My sister was mystified by seeing a corpse, while I was a bit disgusted by both the idea and her reaction to the events. The emergency vehicles were there until about 2:30 cleaning up the scene. Today is my sister's 21st birthday. For those not familiar with US drinking laws, that means she can buy alcohol now. This is all compounding into a rather worrisome mix. I know her driving habits, and I can't say I trust her at all.

I don't think I like the spirit of youth right now. I'm not talking about the possible idiotic behavior that led to the death of that girl last night, I'm talking about how almost everyone I've spoken to about it who is under 30 seems to take it with either excitement or neutrality. The comments range from making fun of the dead and behaving like they're having the time of their life, right down to "no big deal, it happens all the time". No big deal, right? Kids younger than you wreck their cars about 100 feet from your window at night and then die there all the time, right? My sister commented that "at least they died having fun. I hope I can die happy like that", and it rocked me. One of my closest friends commented on how it's hardly worth noting. He would know, he was in an accident about a week-and-a-half ago. The only people who act in a way that seems appropriate, respectful, or whatever, are people above that age. Gone are the "live fast, die young" thoughts, and rational thinking seems to have kicked in. My father said "this is horrible! A mother isn't going to have  a daughter tomorrow! She's dead, they're not doing anything for her! She has a hole across the side of her head, she's dead!", and my sister just made fun of the situation right in front of him. It made me sick.

Maybe it's because I worry too much. I've seen too much death in my life. Lots of lost family, plenty of complete strangers, and none of it helps. Worst of all, I worry. I worry about my family and friends, and when they do something dangerous or disappear for no reason, my mind wanders into a horrible little realm where the worst-case scenario plays out. I can't just blow off the death of a stranger, because I think about the wave of effect. The moment of death, the family's reaction to the news, the person's friends, co-workers/school teachers, their commitments and plans, and how everything has just come to a horrific end all at once. It's intense. Then, worst of all, I imagine for a moment that I'm directly tied to this tragedy. Not an "I'm responsible" attachment, but rather a "they could be someone I care about". It's stressful, and my God, I think I'm actually about to cry thinking about it right now. Man, this is horrible.

Honestly, I think that those of you making too much light about this issue are losing a bit of respect right now.

[Cerebus]

I got my driving license about... six months ago. But I hate driving, because I always imagine it'll end like that, no matter how careful I am.

And this is why I'm just not even ready to get my driver's licenses.

About the accident, is it known what happened?
Because I'll be honest; if alcohol or speed is involved, I don't feel pity for her.
I mean... I'm sorry, but I can't feel bad for someone who drives in a way that can put other people's life in danger.
Because those people could actually cause the death of others. And in fact, this happens all the time.

Not saying that if it's the case, death was what she deserved, though... but I'd rather a reckless driver dies than cause the death of others.

Now of course, it could be a complete different reason. But crashes due to alcohol and/or speed are so common that I'm inclined to think it might be the case here.

[Archem]

Not sure of the cause, but it's been reported that she wasn't wearing a seat belt, and that she died on impact.

[fruckert]

This is pumping your adrenaline?

You really don't get out much.

And how many sudden, violent deaths have you seen first hand?

I haven't seen anything like this up close, so I can't really relate to your feelings on the matter, but I have to agree that the attitude people in general are having to this are sickening.
Seriously, shame on you. Somebody just died.