You Have Questions, I Have (Some) Answers

by Jack Baruth

Published: January 7th, 2014

“So my daddy was like going on the same middle of the same two lines as a black car and then they both crashed. I heard a boom sound and I said “did we crash?”

So that’s the only crash report delivered by someone who didn’t get his bell rung at the scene.

I’ve been speaking to the trooper who is in charge of the accident scene to get a set of precise road conditions for that corner. We’d been driving on unplowed snow on that road for maybe thirty miles; something was different about that turn. In the space of maybe one and a half seconds, I was given a problem that I wasn’t capable of solving.

There were three people seated in the Town Car. My son was in a Safety1st Convertible car seat that appears to have completely protected him from any impact.

When the Sonata centerpunched my passenger door, the dash beam and bench seat both collapsed, which led the dashboard to basically explode as the roof collapsed on my passenger’s head and pinned her. The Jaws of Life were used to cut her out after my son and I were on the ambulance at which point she was flown to the nearest available Level 1 trauma center, only to find that it was being evacuated for a broken water main and sub freezing temps in the rooms.

I fractured my spine, hips, pelvis, right leg, and lost most of my spleen to some very brilliant surgery.

My female passenger is a stunning young woman from New Mexico and I ask the B&B to not make a big deal of her identity because she has a very frightened daughter of her own at home.

I did not yet have snow tires on the TC due to a rather emotional situation between “my guy” over there and the guy who actually owns the shop. My calls to get my snow tires on weren’t returned. I should have pushed harder. Tires were BFG all-seasons with about 10,000 miles of wear on them. Otherwise the vehicle was in excellent mechanical condition.

I’ll need to replace the Town Car but it will be a while before I drive again and I’m afraid I have some fairly daunting medical deductibles to pay.

The Morrow County EMS team went above and beyond to keep my son from being terrified. If you know somebody on that team, lift a Blue Moon to them — or a bottle of anything else they want — and send me the bill.

I left the license plate off my Town Car because I’ve been accidentally falling asleep while listening to Zack de la Rocha and stuff like that.

That’s all for now, once I’m detangled from this hospital bed I’ll know more. Thanks to the B&B for your support. I don’t think I am the same person who got into that car Saturday morning, but there’s many a conversion recorded on the battlefield to no effect, isn’t there?

Jack Baruth

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2 of 235 comments

Rpn453 on Jan 08, 2014

I didn't expect another post from you so soon, Jack. Glad to hear you're doing well enough for that.

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Ringer on Jan 08, 2014

Best of luck on the recovery, both physical and mental. Hope to see you out with TrackDaze again.

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