Why I'm Terrified of driving in LA (Los Angeles, not Louisana)

Hello All!! So I wasn't going to do a post today because I, once again, was extremely stupid and a bad blogger preoccupied and completely forgot to write a post on Saturday announcing what Tuesday's Feature was going to be. Alas, there will be no feature today... However, I want to complete my 100th post and Giveaway on Friday, so if I post every day, it will happen. How exciting...for you!

Instead you guys get stuck with a personal story of one of the scariest experiences in my life.

Let me set the scene for you. It is about 2:30 or 3 am on a Saturday (or Sunday depending on how you look at it) in October of 2009. Kevin and I are driving back to our condo in the OC from a masquerade party in Hollywood (for those you non-Californians it is about a 30 mile drive, give or take). We were driving a Volvo and the streets were still rather lively (because it is Hollywood after all).

Kevin was driving and I was in the passenger seat not really paying attention to much and just happy to not be driving so that I can semi-sleep on the ride home.  

(Side Note: I love being the passenger, seriously I want to be rich one day just so I can hire a chauffer to drive me everywhere.)

Ok, are you imaging this scene in your head? Why not? Come on, just try!

Okay... so we are stopped at a red light in the left-turn lane waiting to get onto the 101 freeway. I am looking for something on the floor, so am bent over and not paying attention to much. Suddenly in a booming voice I hear my boyfriend say "Holy shit this car is going to hit us! Brace yourself!"

I, of course, sit up right away (thank goodness for my boyfriend's warning) just in time to see headlights coming right at us. The next thing I remember is a loud horn going off and Im sitting in a car with airbags deployed and my boyfriend is asking me if I am ok. I blacked out for probably about 30 seconds because of the force and the airbag hitting me.

We ran across the street to the sidewalk and I notice my boyfriend's nose is bleeding (he's too pissed to notice) and there is this other car on the sidewalk. Being the resourceful and character doubting person I am, I start memorizing this license plate number because I noticed the driver was trying to get the car free. I thought they were the ones who hit us and were trying to take off...Come to find out later that the same car that hit us hit them as well and then was able to take off and probably dumped their car a couple streets up)

Kevin, being the level-headed, take-charge person he is, had already called the cops, a ride home, and the friend who's party we had just left (we were just a couple blocks away from her house).

Let me now rewind a bit and explain to you what happened. We were in the left turn lane and there were cars behind us and beside us also waiting at the red light. This drunk asshole is driving from the opposite direction and he is heading right towards us going about 40-50 MPH. We are completely boxed in and there is nothing we could have done except brace for the inevitable impact. We got hit really hard and the airbags deployed (this is where I blacked out).

This was the first accident I was ever in and it happened to be a bad one (nope I couldn't get a fender bender, I had to get the whole deal). We are so lucky that we were driving a Volvo because of how safe they are. They are like little tanks. Most other cars would have been way worse off and I doubt I would have been able to walk away from the accident the way I did (Kevin has actually walked away from much worse). We are very lucky on that front. Kevin had a bloody nose and some bad bruising on his arms. I had a mild concussion and a bad cut/burn on my arm from the airbag (I still have a scar).

The aftermath of the accident was just as bad as the actual accident, though. It took Kevin and I a couple of weeks to not be jumpy while in a car. To this day, actually I get nervous while driving at night and I hardly ever drive into LA as I avoid it like the plague. Also, our car was totaled so we had to go through the stressful process of buying a car. The lesson I could take from this accident is to always follow your gut. Kev and I both had bad feelings about the party but neither one of us had wanted to speak up about it because we had looked forward to it for a long time and I spent a lot of time making my mask for the evening. I sometimes think of the what-ifs but I guess its not good to dwell.

Anyway, that is probably the 2nd scariest experience of my entire life. I hope to never get into any type of accident ever again, as I also hope the same for all of you. This is yet another reason why I am 100% against drunk driving. Too many accidents and deaths could be avoided if people stopped getting behind the wheel while intoxicated.