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I have a
tale to tell,
It gets
so hard to hide it well…
Madonna,
“Live To Tell”
ONCE
upon a time, not so long ago, this writer experienced
something harrowing that may be of interest to the
casual motorist. Kept within the confines of his mind
for so long, the experience still gives him nasty
flashbacks. But acting on the suggestions of good
friends, he decided to recount those moments. Eerily,
the last song played on his iPod before this near-death
experience was Madonna’s “Live To Tell.”
I was
not ready for the fall…
On April
5, he was traveling along the mountain roads of Mount
Famy in Laguna in a Kia Sorento when it started to rain
hard. On one long downhill, 60- to 70-degree
right-hander, he eased up on the gas and let the SUV
glide through the turn.
A
routine test-drive on a normal Saturday morning? Not
quite.
Suddenly, the unit began to whip its tail, forcing him
to correct the steering in huge increments to the left,
then right. By the time he managed to get the Sorento on
the tarmac and off the grassy sidewalk, a 10-wheeler
truck full of cement was headed toward him.
He felt
that his time would be up, to be talked about in the
past tense permanently, to be in a box six feet under.
Other party
Thistruck
was on the receiving end of the prang.
Instead,
both the SUV and the truck’s left sides collided instead
of a full head-on impact, crumpling the latter’s left
side and crushing the entire front of the former. The
driver’s seatbelt tightened grip. Simultaneously, the
Sorento’s steering-wheel airbag popped, making a sound
so quiet the closest sound this writer can ascribe to it
is a toneless rustle, a stick being jerked through
water. Additionally, the whole steering column collapsed
five to seven degrees downward from its original
position, preventing this writer’s sternum from being
slammed against the dashboard, thus avoiding any form of
massive blunt force trauma.
He was
saved, but not without additional drama.
Too
blind to see the writing on the wall…
The
blow’s impact moved the SUV to the right at a 70- to
90-degree angle. Immediately, he opened his eyes after
the collision and thought that he had lost sight in his
right eye. He first felt his face; his glasses were
still on. But why did his right eye have blurred vision
while his left eye was perfectly normal? Turned out his
face hit the airbag during the crash, jarring the right
lens of his glasses loose.
He
looked for his right lens immediately with his seatbelt
still buckled, finding it on the front passenger’s
floor. As he put the right lens back in its place, he
felt pain in his right wrist that could be described as
the equivalent of stabbing knives. He unbuckled his
seatbelt and saw burns on both hands, on the skin area
where the index finger meets the thumb. Speaking of
burn, the whole cockpit smelled like it was about to
explode, but there was no fire anywhere in the interior.
He
opened the driver’s side door. Immediately, he felt pain
in his lower abdomen, a centimeter or two below the
belly-button. It was an effort getting out of the SUV
and checking on the driver of the truck. He felt his
gut. Just a slight touch on it brought a sharp pain.
Turned out this writer had a five-inch-long bruise right
above the waistline (due to the viselike grip of the
seatbelt’s lap belt upon impact), starting from an angry
red turning into a deep purple within the hour.
He
checked out the truck driver. He was all right, with
just a few cuts and scratches on his feet. It was only
then that the sun came out, spreading light all over the
accident area. It took a while for the Tanay, Rizal,
police to arrive at the scene, where both parties shed
light on the accident.
After
talking with the police and the trucker, Columbian
Autocars Corp.’s Dodjie Castro and Chut Velasquez
assisted me home, where they asked me to just rest and
focus on recovering.
If I ran
away, I’d never have the strength to go very far,
How
would they hear the beating of my heart?
Will it
grow cold,
The
secret that I hide, will I grow old?
How will
they hear?
When
will they learn?
How will
they know?
The
weeks after the accident were torture, both on the mind
and on the body. Lying on both sides felt like the whole
ribcage was being stretched to breaking point. It was a
dull pain, but enough to prevent me from going to sleep.
Turning a steering wheel from quarter turn to half turn
brought back the wrist pains. Hot water on the hand
burns stung like alcohol on an open wound. And there
were the occasional nightmares about the incident.
But life
goes on. It had to. Summer was coming up immediately,
and there was no respite since the workload in the
motoring beat began getting heavier and heavier.
This
writer kept the incident to himself, primarily for fear
of himself, the manufacturer and the broadsheet being
cast in a negative light by readers and fellow
journalists. There have been incidents like this before,
and these incidents sullied the reputation of the writer
behind the wheel. After all, motoring journalists are
supposed to lead by example when it comes to driving and
road safety.
Until
one Thursday, when Velasquez told this writer that it
was time to let the whole world know about what
happened. “If not now, people will never be able to know
what happened and how safe the Kia Sorento is. Your
accident could have been fatal if not for the safety
measures installed inside, such as a driver’s-side
airbag, load limiters for the seatbelts and a
collapsible steering column. These safety features gave
the Sorento a five-star Euro NCAP rating. You are a hero
for surviving that collision,” added Velasquez.
I’ve
learned my lesson well
Hope I
live to tell
The
secret I have learned, till then
It will
burn inside of me…
Upon
learning of the incident, instead of being met with
derision, this writer was met with sympathy and offers
for help. A lady colleague offered a trip to an
alternative healing center to help get rid of the
physical pain, along with the nightmares. Another told
me that incidents like that happen, some of them even
occurring during manufacturers’ events out of the
country. BusinessMirror motoring editor Popong Andolong
told me that what happened to me can happen to anyone,
and to learn from it.
Downhill
roads in the wet must be approached with utmost caution.
Nothing will return that particular Sorento back to its
original condition, nor will it return the trust that
Columbian Autocars Corp. gave this writer before the
incident. But this writer knows that for as long as
manufacturers continue to implement safety features that
are as good as the ones found in the Kia Sorento (or
even better), then motorists will be able to walk away
relatively unscathed should collisions occur. |
