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~ Diabetes, Cancer Survivor, Cycling, Photographer, Exercise, College Parent, Twins, Boy Scout Leader, Life

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Tag Archives: accident

What a Day!! :( Accidents Happen

02 Saturday Nov 2019

Posted by Tim Hughes Living with CML in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

accident, Band, Car, Damage, Football, Ford, Insurance, playoffs, trailer, Truck

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It’s going to quite around the house for the next few days because my wife is not speaking to me. She told me not to do something and I did it anyway.  I had an accident with the band trailer on my way to a football game tonight.  The route we took led us downtown Birmingham where they are currently working on the bridges that go through the center of town.  It’s 5 o’clock traffic, it’s bumper to bumper and along some narrow streets.  A lady and her brother were sitting at a traffic light in the left turn lane.  I’m next to her waiting to go straight.  The light changed, I move forward and I hear a long and loud horn blow.  The lady pulls up next to me and tells me that I hit her car.  Now, not only did not hear the crash, I didn’t see it either.  I was not about to stop in the middle of the street and call the police to come and do a police report. But there was nowhere to pull over either. I drove for several blocks trying to find a place and all the while the lady was beside me in the turn lane trying to get me to stop.  We finally stopped at a traffic light long enough for me to communicate to her that I was looking for a place to pull over.  I finally found a parking lot big enough for me to pull into so we could exchange insurance cards and get a police report.  Which we had to wait over forty-five minutes for the cop to show up.

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The school has insurance on the trailer so therefore the school’s insurance will take care of the car that I hit.  I was told that it would not go on my insurance but my wife does not believe this.  And this is where the rub comes in.  When I first sat down with these people to volunteer to haul the trailer, I signed a document stating that very same thing.  Plus, if anything happens to the trailer or any of the contents I would not be held responsible. My wife did not want me to volunteer for this.  In fact, she doesn’t want me to do anything outside the home since I retired.  She always has some excuse for why I shouldn’t do it.  I get paid $100 each time I haul the trailer no matter how short a run or how far. So far I’ve raised $800 and that’s pretty easy money.

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As you can see there wasn’t much damage to the car I hit but still, I hit a car.  My wife is worried that regardless of who pays for it, this will make our insurance costs go up.  I haven’t had an accident in over thirty years and I really doubt our insurance will go up but I can’t get that in my wife’s head.

Our team is in the playoffs and they won their game tonight.  Next week we travel again to another school but this time we don’t have to go through town to get there.  Originally, this was supposed to be my final night but because they’re in the playoff’s we have yet another game to go to.  This could be over an hour away so I’m not really looking forward to hauling the trailer that far. Is it a bad thing to hope they lose so next week would be their last?

It’s Been a Challenging Year.

26 Friday Feb 2016

Posted by Tim Hughes Living with CML in Photography

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

accident, Auto, Caregiver, Collision, Family, Hospital, ICU, Oxygen, Siblings, Walker

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On February 8th my mom and dad were heading to pick up my 11 year old nephew from school when out of nowhere this car veered over into their lane and hit them head on.  Both mom and dad suffered many broken ribs, fractured sternums, collapsed lungs and many cuts and bruises.  Dad also suffered several fractured vertebrae and along with a collapsed lung, he had a small hole in one of his lungs creating fluid to build up around his heart.  The first hospital they were rushed to could not handle dad’s injuries so they decided to ship them to UAB trauma center which in my opinion is one of the best hospitals in the southeast.

For nearly three weeks, both mom and dad were laid up in the hospital, mom in TBICU and dad in TBU. As of this past Saturday they went to stay with my brother until they can learn to do things for themselves.  They are still on oxygen and having to use a walker to get around.  They are doing much better but they have a long way to go.

For these three weeks my siblings and I have taken turns spending time with my parents trying to help them the best way we know how.  Both my parents are in their late 70’s and even before the accident, were having difficulties getting around.  Now, it’s doubtful that they will ever get back to where they were before the accident.

365 Day Photo Challenge 158/365 “Close Call”

06 Saturday Jun 2015

Posted by Tim Hughes Living with CML in Photography

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

365 Day Photo Challenge, accident, Alabama, Cycling

I woke up after a very restless night.  I’ve never heard so many loud mufflers in my life. At 1:30 am, a loud motorcycle took off from our parking lot and I heard him hit the interstate and hammer down until he faded off in the distance.  The AC unit worked but the compressor made a loud noise when ever it called for cooling.  The hotel I stayed at allowed pets so as you may have guess it, loud dogs barking all night long. So, when I woke up at 5 am I was not in the mood to ride 41 miles.

After eating breakfast, loading all my gear in my truck, loading the bike on the bike rack I headed off to the church where over 300 bikes were ready to take off.  At 7 am all the century riders took off while the other riders took off at 7:15am.  We started off slow.  Slower than I wanted too.  I was in the back of about 50 cyclist and the average speed was about 11 mph.  The roads were fairly flat and I was ready to move along.

After about five miles or so the riders thinned out enough to where I could start passing some of the slower riders and get up to cruising speed.  There was a older gentleman that wore an army jersey that I was able to keep up with for several miles.  Then the first big hill that’s when I lost the lead riders.  I soon found another couple that I started riding with and we played leapfrog for several miles.  I’d pass them on the down hill and they would pass me on the up hill.  That is until the accident.

At mile 12.9 an oncoming car crossed over the double yellow line as the female cyclist that I had been leapfrogging for the past five miles or so, was starting to pass me on the uphill.  I saw the car approaching and was really paying attention to it more than I was the young cyclist that was passing me.  The car was way over the line, so much so that when I felt the initial hit I thought that the car had hit me.  The young lady cyclist saw the car too.  Whether or not the cyclist panicked or she actually thought she was about to be hit, she swerved into me and her right pedal went into my rear tire causing me to flip off the bike.  This whole time I thought the car had hit me.  I didn’t know that she had anything to do with it until the dust settled.  The only thing I knew I was eating grass with this lady on top of me.

After the accident, we both layed motionless for a few minutes.  Each of us scared to move thinking of all the broken bones we would find.  She made the first move by slowly making her way off of me just as her husband came running up to check on her.  He was about thirty feet behind and saw everything.  I was still laying on the ground when the husband offered his hand to help me up.  It wasn’t until then I started putting things together.  I still wasn’t for sure if anyone got hit by the car, which by the way never stopped.

I got up and asked if she was okay and she looked rough.  Her right arm was bleeding and she had some road rash on one of her legs.  I looked over to where our bikes were and knew right away that there would be damage.  It didn’t look good.  Both of our bikes were white while mine has red bar tape, hers had white.  I saw a section that contained the handlebar that had white bar tape but it was too small for it to be the complete bike.  Some how her bike broke into two pieces.  I was scared to look at mine after seeing hers but mine only suffered two broken spokes on the back wheel.  Needless to say we were out of the ride.  I waved down the support vehicle, loaded up both bikes and headed back to the start line.

On the way back to the start line the young lady stated that her arm was hurting some and I think their plan was to go to the emergency room.  I have not heard any news so I’m hoping everything turned out okay.  I loaded my bike, drove 3.5 hours home, stopping at the cycle shop to drop my bike off and took a hot shower once home.

In a nut shell, this has been a non productive weekend thus far.  I drove four hours, 225 miles, paid $88 for a nights’ stay only to ride 12.5 miles.  But, It could’ve ended up a whole lot worse.

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