I’ve lived in my house for just over 9 years now. I love where I live and my neighborhood. I know the other people who live on the same property as me because we look out for each other. If we see someone walking up the driveway that we don’t recognize, we are on high alert. I love our little community and how much we care for each other.
But I don’t really know other neighbors on my block. I knew one neighbor who lived a few buildings over because I babysat for them, but I have no clue if they still live there and that’s only 1 person out of so many on the block. I’m sure this is how it is for a lot of people, and it never felt that odd for me. But that changed this past Saturday night.
I was home about to get ready for bed when I heard a very loud rumbling noise. At first I thought it might be an earthquake because sometimes you hear them before you feel them. But this noise wasn’t quite that. And right after the rumbling noise started I heard screeching, crunching, and finally some car alarms going off. There was no question that there was a car accident on my street and I was terrified what might have happened. People tend to drive well over the speed limit and I know that it’s not as safe as it should be. Since I hadn’t gotten ready for bed just yet, I was able to quickly put on some shoes and grab my phone and keys to go outside.
When I walked down my driveway, I saw a car that had all the airbags deployed in the middle of my street diagonally. The front of the car was crumpled and I couldn’t tell if the driver was ok. Dozens of my neighbors in other buildings were on the street too since it woke up most people who were already asleep. Other neighbors called 911 and I decided to focus on the driver to see if they were ok or needed help.
Before I was able to get to the car the driver was able to get out. He was stumbling around and at first I thought maybe it was due to the accident. Quickly my neighbors and I realized that he was drunk. I hate drunk drivers and I find it an incredibly selfish and irresponsible thing to do, but I had to put those feelings aside and try to get the driver to get somewhere safe and to turn his car off. The car was leaking a lot of various fluids and we didn’t want the car to keep running in case it ignited things.
The driver was arguing with us a bit when we asked him to please sit down or turn his car off. He was very confused what happened and I was starting to wonder if he had no idea he was in an accident. I noticed at that point that there were 5 or 6 cars with major damage on the street that he hit. Again, my anger had to be pushed down because I knew that safety was the priority. The driver didn’t want to turn off the car, but when he got out of the car to argue that he needed to see the damage I took a chance and got into his car, turned it off, and grabbed the keys. I then was worried that he might get upset when he realized I had his keys, so a male neighbor took them because he was more conformable with a standing up to him.
We finally got the driver to sit down on a curb so he didn’t fall too far if he was going to pass out and then I think all of us on the street started to actually see the damage and realize what happened. I started talking to some of the neighbors and we were able to figure out that everyone who had their car damaged was out there and they knew about it. At that point, there wasn’t much to do besides wait for the police to arrive. So we continued to talk among ourselves while making sure the driver didn’t move.
The fire department arrived first and once they got there they started to check out the driver. All of us were talking about what was happening or what to do. I started to talk mainly with one neighbor who lives in the building across the street from me who had the car with the most damage. As horrible as the accident was, it was kind of like a bonding opportunity for all of us on the block. Most of us didn’t know each other and we quickly learned quite a bit about who we lived near.
When the police arrived, I thought maybe the night would be over soon. They had arrested the driver and it was already close to 3am. I was exhausted, but I wanted to make sure things were ok with my neighbors before I went to bed. And I guess it ended up being a good thing that I stayed out there because while the police were getting statements from the people who had damage to their cars, they started to ask who took the car keys from the driver. I was worried that I was in trouble or something, but fortunately that wasn’t the case. First, they wanted to thank me for doing that so that he had no way to potentially cause more damage (although his car was totaled and couldn’t move). They also wanted to interview me for a witness statement about what I saw and did. While I didn’t see the accident happen, I was able to explain what I heard and what I saw when I was outside.
By the time I was done giving my statement, most of the neighbors had returned to their homes. It was so late (or early in the morning if you want to think of it that way) and people wanted to go to bed. And I could have gone to bed then too, but the neighbor I had been talking to the most was waiting on a tow truck. He wasn’t able to get his car towed anywhere because it was the middle of the night, but because of the impact of the accident his car had been pushed into someone else’s driveway and it had to be moved. We couldn’t push the car back because of the damage and a tow truck was the only option.
So I hung out with my neighbor and we had a really nice talk. We didn’t talk too much about the accident because we wanted to talk about more entertaining topics. He was telling me about his house and the remodel that he is doing. He talked about his kids. And I talked about acting and random things that happen in life. Finally a tow truck came and by the time his car was in a legal parking spot again it was about 5am. My neighbor and I both headed back to our homes then but I did make sure he had my contact information in case he needed it for his car insurance and because we really hit it off as friends over the course of the night.
This accident was a horrible thing, but it could have been so much worse. Nobody was hurt. I don’t think the driver was even hurt at all. Yes, multiple cars were totaled and that’s upsetting, but that’s just property damage and cars can be replaced. And while I hate that it took an accident like this to bring my neighbors and I together, I’m glad that it did happen and we got to learn about who we live around. Almost everyone who was out there that night was trying to help and make sure everyone involved was ok before they left. And while there were a few people out there who decided to yell at the driver and call him names, the rest of us were able to get them to stop. I understand the frustration, but it was not necessary.
I’ve written about not drinking and driving on here before and this is another reminder of it. I don’t know why this driver decided to do it, but it was the wrong decision. There are so many other options to get home if you are not safe to drive. Even if you are worried your car might get towed, paying to get your car out of an impound lot is cheaper than getting out of jail and dealing with the aftermath of a drunk driving accident.
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