Out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of white color and I knew in that instant a truck was pulling out in front of me. I slammed on my brakes but in the next instant I felt the impact and felt the airbag explode into my arms and chest. My van was spun sideways from the impact and the truck that hit me was still driving across the street as if nothing happened. I felt intense pain in my arms and when I tried to move them I couldn't. The pain made me scream and cry. So I did both while other cars passed me and their drivers mouthed "Are you okay?" At first I thought my driver side door had been hit and my arms were trapped but then 3 men came running towards my car. One of the men opened my door and asked if I was hurt I was screaming and crying....okay not my finest hour but it's not every day you get hit by a truck. One of the men said I was bleeding. The skin was torn from my left forearm and it was bleeding and swelling. The men told me they saw a lady in a white truck pull out of Ashley's Furniture store right into my path without even looking. They also told me the lady was talking on her cell phone the whole time. One of the men said he was an off duty police officer. He called an ambulance for me and when the police officer came to talk to me he told him that the lady in the white truck never looked. She just pulled out in front of me. A Bumpy Ride to Baptist Hospital
In the mean while the lady driving the white truck finally stopped driving when she got about a half block a way and then walked back to the accident. She came over to me to see if I was okay and apologized and asked if she could do anything. Since I couldn't move my arms I had her call Rick and tell him that I was in an accident and where. Funny how when you're a mom even when you're in a wreck the first things you think of is "who is going to pick up my kids from school"? By now the EMTs had gotten to me and put me on the stretcher and loaded me into the ambulance. They asked who my doctor was and I said, "They are ALL at Baptist Hospital." By the way....I think I should get some kind of advertising fee for all the business I bring to Baptist Hospital. Anyway Rick had gotten to the wreck by the time they loaded me in the ambulance and he got in just long enough for me to tell him to pick up the kids and to then come to the hospital. The police had my car towed and gave Rick all the information. The ambulance headed to Baptist Hospital with me. I was a little perturbed that no sirens were used and that we stopped at red lights. Seems to me if someone's insurance is going to have to pay for an ambulance ride you should at least get the full treatment. But all I got was a bumpy ride to Baptist with some very nice EMTs. 
Once we got to Baptist they quickly looked at my arms, x-rayed them, and rinsed and put dressings on them. By now they were already blue and purple and swelled. I was told to take off my jewelry before they had to cut it off because I was swelling so fast. The x-ray didn't show any broken bones but a hairline fracture sometimes doesn't show up for 7 to 10 days. So I have to go to my regular doctor then and be re-examined. The doctor said I would be pretty colors for Easter and I would hurt really bad. So she sent me home with Demerol and Valium. Four days later and my left arm still feels like it has gone through a meat grinder. I can still see the flash of the white truck right in front of me and still feel the impact and the pain that it caused. The lady pulled straight across into my lane and the impact happened from my front driver side tire up. It tore off the front end of my car, messed my hood up and broke my windshield on the driver side. If the impact had been just a few inches back I might have been injured even worse. The other driver was given a citation for careless and prohibited driving and I got damage to my car which probably means a new one and 2 bummed up arms.
Drive...Don't Talk
Like many people if my phone rings in my car I answer it. I also have made phone calls while driving. But after feeling and seeing what can happen when another driver is talking on their cell phone and pulls out in front of you and how close I came to being seriously injured....I won't be talking on the phone and driving any longer. Accidents happen so fast and I don't want to be in this ladies shoes where I'm sitting on a curb talking to the police and crying because I was talking on the phone, never looked before I pulled onto a road and the person I hit is now being loaded into an ambulance or worse.
