personal essay on car accident

Personal Narrative Essay Sample: My First Car Accident

In this narrative essay I will talk about the day I was involved in my first car accident. I still remember that day vividly. I was driving to the grocery store, and as I was going through the green light, I saw a vehicle from the corner of my left eye run the traffic light. At that moment, time froze and all I could think about was leaving the accident with minimal injuries. 

Once the impact was over, I was able to get out of my vehicle on my own, and only suffered pain in my left arm and a headache. After I examined myself, I turned my attention to the other driver. She was 19 years old, and she said she had just purchased her first vehicle. I asked why weren’t you paying attention to the road, and she responded she “looked down on her phone and took her eyes off the road”. I was not able to get angry at her because she was so young, and I felt bad that she had an accident in her first car. Both of our vehicles were able to be safely removed from the accident, but for some reason I had an urge not to move the car. I thought it was because I did not want to drive the car due to the accident, but as the day went on, I knew it was a more concerning reason than that.

After the accident, I had a friend come drive my car to the body shop and take me to the hospital. There they examined me and made sure I did not endure any injuries to my brain or break any bones. I passed the concussion protocol, and no bones were broken. The doctor started to ask me questions about how I was feeling, and I told her I kept having flashbacks from the accident. I also told her that I felt a fear of driving. She stated “you might just be stressed from the accident and it will all pass”. She wrote me a prescription for some pain medication, and advised that I go home and get some rest. As I was leaving the hospital, I started to think she might be right. 

Once I got home, I took the medication and took a nap. When I woke up from my nap later that day, I started to do some research. I discovered that I might be suffering from PTSD. Even though this accident did not total my car or have lasting injuries to me, it still will be a day that will stick with me forever. 

This accident made me become more aware of how important mental health is. Before this accident, I never experienced any problems with mental health but this accident opened my eyes. It made me realize that any terrifying event can cause a trigger in your mental health even to the strongest people. In my accident, I was fortunate to overcome my PTSD and fully gain my confidence back. However, I am aware that some people never go back to who they were before a significant accident. From now on, I will be more aware and supportive if I see my friends or family members going through any significant event, because I know the impact it could have.

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How Car Accident Affected My Life, Essay Example

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I remember the day as if it were yesterday. My mother and I were in the car on our way to a family member’s house- just like any other day. We were driving down the main road in my town when the car was t-boned by another car that had run a red light. Our Honda Accord was smashed to pieces in the middle of the intersection. My mother was bleeding and the front of the car had crashed on top of my legs- I couldn’t feel either leg, but at the same time, tremendous pain shot through my body, not to mention fear. I looked over at the car that hit us and it was just as demolished- the front of the car was smoking; honestly, I feared that one of the vehicles might combust.

I tried to get out of my vehicle, but I could not open the door. The impact from the crash caused too much damage and my injured mother and I had no choice but to wait for the EMTs to arrive to help us get out of the vehicle.

Several cop cars, two ambulances and a fire truck rushed to the scene. The doors to our car were pried open with the jaws of life as the man who hit us was placed onto a gurney and lifted into the ambulance. I don’t know what his condition was, but if it even paled in comparison to the way his car looked after the accident, he was in serious medical condition.

When my mother was removed from our vehicle, she was treated by EMS workers for cuts and scrapes associated with the accident, but the EMS technicians said that she would be fine. I wasn’t as lucky.

When the doors on my side of the car were pried away, it revealed to the medical help that I had broken at least one of my legs, if not both. I was carefully removed from the vehicle and placed in a wheelchair then brought to the ambulance. The EMTs drove me to the local hospital where they took X-rays of both of my legs.

I waited anxiously in my bed for the results of the X-rays as the nurses cleaned up my cuts from the shattered glass. My mother sat by my bedside praying over me, but most of me was just thankful that I was the one in the hospital bed instead of her.

The doctor came into the room with my X-ray results. As an athlete and an overall busy person who relies on my legs heavily, I feared for the worst. Luckily, it could have been worse. The doctor revealed to me that I shattered my right knee but that my left leg did not break in the impact. Although I would have to undergo intense surgery and physical rehabilitation to repair my right knee, the doctor assured me that I would be walking fine again within several months. It wasn’t the greatest news I had ever received, but through my eyes, my mother and I were okay, and I was grateful.

The accident changed me. The surgery was difficult but I got through it with the support of my family. I may have walked out of the hospital with a broken right knee, but I also carried with me a greater appreciation for my family, as well as my life. In the accident I realized the preciousness of every moment and ultimately the car crash changed my life for the better.

Since the accident I have become closer to God, my family and my friends. I understand the importance of what true love is and what it means to savor each moment. My rehabilitation for my knee might have been a physical healing process, but I also went through an emotional rehabilitation, where my spirit healed from the accident.

I could have died that day. Worse, I could have lost my best friend and my mother that day. I carry the accident with me in my mind every day- it is my constant reminder to cherish life and appreciate every moment. I have a set of rosary beads that I know hang off the rear view window of my own car, as my personal reminder of that day. When I look at those beads, I think of my mother, I think of God, and I am truly grateful for being where I am today.

For a long time I struggled to look at my glass as half full after the accident. I wanted reasons for questions that had no answers. Why us? Why me? Why my knee? For months I took those questions and fostered them into hostility.

Today is different though. Today I carry my scars like badges of honor. Yes I did get in a horrible car accident, and here I am today. Clearly I wasn’t meant to die that day- and I know that ultimately I am on this earth to serve a larger purpose. Instead of being ashamed of my scars, today I look at them as markers of strength- proof that I can overcome anything. That accident may have broken my knee but it didn’t break my spirit. If anything, it made my spirit stronger and helped me get to where I am today.

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Car Accident Essay: Chilling Experience

My personal narrative essay car accident made me rake over my memory and get not the most pleasant memories from it. I preferred such an awful and chilling story never to happen to me at all. I hid my memories carefully in the depths of my head, somewhere on the furthest shelf, so far that nobody was able to make me touch them. The task to compose a traffic accident essay, which seemed to be very easy at first sight, jarred my imagination. The most terrible day of my life appeared in front of my eyes again…

How Memory Works

The scientists are sure that children remember a lot, though the bigger they are, the less info is remained in their heads. The events, which seemed to be too vivid until we are small, start vanishing and soon they disappear at all. The adults are able to remember themselves just from the age of 4. I don’t think so, though it is not easy to argue with the science. I just can say that my memory keeps all the important situations, in which I played the principal roles, perfectly. Of course, a lot of details really got decayed, though there are still a lot of things, which I am able to talk about as if it were yesterday.

The biggest part of my memories is bright and clear and makes me smile as soon as I think about them. Unfortunately, not all the periods of my life were so sweet. The day, when my mom and I got into the car accident, left a giant and deep imprint on me forever.  Even if I had a desire to forget it, I wouldn’t be able to do this because of the large scar on my arm. I see it each time, when I look into the mirror or lower my gaze. It annoys me. It makes me feel sacred again.

It Happened When…

It was fifteen years ago. This period in my biography seemed to be unreal even for me, because the story, which divided the life of my family into two parts, sounded like a fairytale.

It happened when I was a five-year-old girl. We were in our new car, which maneuvered skillfully among the other vehicles, the drivers of which had just one dream: to get home as soon as possible. It was the Christmas Eve and it was understandable that nobody wanted to celebrate it on the road. The bus, which was moving super quickly, approached to us. It hit us so loudly that I heard nothing but the awful metallic squeal. The unbearable feeling of fear, which overwhelmed me suddenly but very strongly, and this squeal were the last things, which I remembered. This moment was enough for me to understand that something incredibly bad happened to my mom, me and some more people, who were the passengers of the devilish bus.  Bam! And the light went off.

When I got real, the first thought, which entered my head, was that I was dead and the light that was shining right into my face was nothing else but the transcendent irradiance.

The serious crash made our Mini Cooper flattened and turned it into a real sandwich. It was absolutely irreparable and even the best auto mechanics were not able to restore it. The policemen, who arrived soon after we crashed, were amazed that we were still alive. The state of our car made impossible to imagine that its passengers were saved. In fact, my mom flew through the windshield and fell on the roadside at once. Nobody could explain whether it was just a fortune or her guardian angel was next to her at the moment. My mom’s body was covered with bruises and nearly all of her bones were broken, though she stayed alive. She spent long and painful two years in the hospital, she was made several plastic operations and despite all these hardships, she recovered. I survived this accident badly, though the biggest traumas of mine were the open fracture of the right hand and the psychological shock. The best professionals worked with me to make these fearful memories disappear from my hand or, at least, to become not so vivid. I was told that I was born with a silver spoon in mouth and I was the only one, who got off with such light injuries. It was a real mystery that I survived. Yes, my bones, which were well-seen through the torn skin and muscles, were not the worst, by the way. Ten young men, who were in the bus, which provoked this catastrophe, died. They were the members of the hockey team, by the way, and they were getting home after the victorious match…

Long after this accident happened, we got know that the driver, like all his passengers, wanted to reach the station of destination quicker, so he rode at full speed. Their last dream wasn’t come true...

Be Careful!

Unlike the fellows, who were in the bus, we are still alive and feel perfectly. We don’t know why God saved us, though we were thankful to Him. It is not easy to understand the value of life until you get into a trouble, which may take your life away. I am twenty now, though I am not ready to take to the wheel. Any car, which is driving by, makes me feel discomfort and I can’t control my fears. I see how the modern drivers manage their cars, how they are talking on the phone at the same time. I see their confident faces and the words, which are written in their foreheads: ‘Everything is under my control!’ Not everything, dear gentlemen, really not everything…

The task to compose the car accident essays can’t be called an extra difficult one, though if you don’t have (thank God!) such an experience, it may be not very easy for you to make up such a story. Are you so lucky that you have never been in a car accident? Just buy an essay car accident from Livecustomwriting.com and don’t draw troubles on yourself. Our best writers will make your text perfectly shaped and there will be no differences with the reality. Don’t think twice and follow my advice right now!

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Narrative Essay on Road Accident I Witnessed

Accidents on the road can be life-altering experiences, often leaving a lasting impact on those who witness them. One such incident that I witnessed a few years ago still lingers in my mind, a stark reminder of the fragility of life and the importance of road safety. This essay recounts the details of that harrowing event, aiming to shed light on the consequences of negligence and the paramount importance of vigilance while on the road.

The Day of the Accident

It was a bright and sunny afternoon in mid-July. The streets were bustling with people, and the air was filled with the usual cacophony of honking cars, chattering pedestrians, and the distant hum of city life. I was on my way home from school, walking along the sidewalk, lost in thoughts of the day’s events and the homework that awaited me.

As I approached a busy intersection, the traffic light turned green, signaling for pedestrians to cross. I waited for a few seconds, allowing a car to pass before stepping onto the zebra crossing. What happened next unfolded in a matter of seconds but felt like an eternity. A speeding motorcycle, attempting to beat the red light, swerved into view. The rider, realizing too late that he couldn’t make it, attempted to brake but lost control.

The motorcycle skidded across the road, heading straight for a pedestrian about to reach the other side. In a desperate attempt to avoid a direct collision, the rider veered to the left but ended up crashing into a nearby car. The impact was so severe that the rider was thrown off his bike, landing several feet away, motionless.

The Immediate Aftermath

The scene that followed was one of chaos and panic. The sound of the crash had drawn the attention of everyone nearby. Pedestrians screamed, and drivers honked, creating a cacophony of noise. I stood frozen, my heart racing, as I processed what I had just witnessed.

Several people rushed towards the injured rider and the occupants of the car, trying to offer assistance. I remember the overwhelming sense of helplessness as I watched them dial emergency numbers, their voices urgent and shaky. The driver of the car, visibly shaken but uninjured, stepped out to check on the rider, who lay still on the pavement.

Within minutes, the wail of sirens filled the air as an ambulance and police cars arrived at the scene. The medical team quickly attended to the rider, who was fortunately still alive but seriously injured. The police cordoned off the area, redirecting traffic and starting their preliminary investigation into the cause of the accident.

Reflections on the Incident

As the adrenaline faded and I continued my journey home, the gravity of what I had witnessed began to sink in. It was a sobering reminder of how quickly a normal day could turn tragic due to a moment of carelessness. The rider’s decision to speed and beat the red light had not only endangered his life but also those of others around him.

This incident highlighted the critical importance of road safety measures, such as obeying traffic signals, wearing helmets, and driving within speed limits. It also underscored the unpredictable nature of road accidents and the need for both drivers and pedestrians to remain vigilant at all times.

In the days that followed, I found myself more cautious and aware of my surroundings while walking or riding in a vehicle. The accident served as a powerful lesson on the consequences of negligence on the road and the collective responsibility we share in preventing such tragedies.

The road accident I witnessed was a stark reminder of the thin line between life and death and the impact of our choices behind the wheel. It taught me the importance of road safety, not just as a set of rules to follow, but as a commitment to protecting ourselves and others. As we navigate the roads of life, let us do so with caution and care, mindful of the precious lives that depend on our vigilance and responsibility. This narrative serves as a call to action for all of us to prioritize safety and make our roads safer for everyone.

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7 powerful stories of recovery after injury

[ted id=1621 width=560 height=315]

Cross-country skier Janine Shepherd was Olympics-bound in 1986, with many thinking that she was a strong contender to earn Australia’s first-ever medal at the winter games. But everything changed on a training bike ride through the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. Shepherd was hit by a truck, and broke both her back and neck.

Doctors did not expect Shepherd to survive. And when she made it through surgery she received some jarring words.

As Shepherd recalls in today’s talk , filmed at TEDxKC , “The doctor came over to me and said, ‘Janine, the operation was a success … but the damage is permanent. They’re central nervous system nerves. There is no cure. You’re what we call a partial paraplegic and you will have all the injuries that go along with that. You’ll have no feeling from the waist down. At most, you might get 10 to 20% return.’”

To hear how Shepherd recovered, learning to walk again with only a slight limp, watch her incredible talk . As she explains, the key for her was realizing that she was more than just the circumstances of her body, and that she could create new dreams. For example: becoming a pilot. Shepherd took her first flying lesson in a full body cast, but within a year had earned her private pilot’s license. A commercial pilot license and instructor’s rating followed. Shepherd even went on to become the youngest — and only female — director of Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA).

Shepherd’s is a powerful story of recovery. After the jump, watch more TED Talks from speakers who beat their physical odds and learned about their own incredible strength in the process.

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Ed Gavagan: A story about knots and surgeons Years ago, Ed Gavagan was brutally stabbed while walking down a New York City street. In this talk, he shares how watching two medical students practicing their knots on the subway reminded him of the surgeons who saved his life. A powerful love letter to medical skill from TEDMED 2012. [ Read much more on his story .]

Giles Duley: When a reporter becomes the story Fashion photographer Giles Duley found his calling when he began traveling the world and documenting the stories of the forgotten and marginalized—a boy with autism, street teens in the Ukraine, refugees who’ve spent years in camps, the injured in the South Sudan. Duley’s life, however, changed when he stepped on an IED in Afghanistan and lost both his legs and arms. At TEDxObserver, he tells his story.

[ted id=229 width=560 height=315]

Jill Bolte Taylor’s stroke of insight Brain scientist Jill Bolte Taylor became her own research subject when she had a massive stroke and experienced a shutdown of all her mental functions. In this talk from TED2008, she shares the incredible story of feeling herself exist on two different planes.

[ted id=1186 width=560 height=315]

Simon Lewis: Don’t take consciousness for granted Simon Lewis spent a month in a coma after a terrible car accident in Los Angeles. In this talk from the INK Conference, he shares how the experience of coming back gave him a whole new appreciation for consciousness — and for the plasticity of the brain, the incredible balance found in our bodies and for our capacity to communicate with others.

[ted id=769 width=560 height=315]

Aimee Mullins: The opportunity of adversity Aimee Mullins is a record-breaking runner … who was born without shinbones. In this talk from TEDMED 2009, Mullins shares why the term “disabled” is no longer appropriate: because we will all face adversity of some kind, whether physical or otherwise. She shares a powerful message — that it’s not about whether you will meet adversity, but how you will approach it.

Joshua Prager: My personal half-life In this harrowing talk from TED@NewYork, Joshua Prager describes a life-altering bus crash and its paralyzing effects. He shares a moment that was particularly meaningful for him—the exact minute when he had spent more than half of his life afflicted—and how he chose to spend it. [ Read a TED Blog Q&A with Prager .]

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Car Accidents Causes and Effects Essay

Drunk driving, lack of driving experience, excessive self-confidence in personal driving skills, excessive speed.

Technical progress in the automotive industry has led to the fact that the car has ceased to be a luxury item today and is an indispensable attribute of most people’s lives. However, because of the interest in increasing vehicle capacity and the spread of machinery, more and more road accidents began to occur. The reasons for them are different, and the consequences of accidents also differ; therefore, it is possible to describe the most common causes of crashes on the roads and the effects that they have.

Drunk driving causes accidents quite often and the fact that many cases are fatal is sad. When sitting at the wheel in the state of alcohol intoxication, the driver puts at risk not only his or her life but also the lives of pedestrians and other road users. Laws against drunken drivers are toughened annually; nevertheless, it does not stop some people from violating them. Various cases of death through the fault of such drivers occur quite often, and the consequences of these disasters can be utterly unpredictable since drunk people often do not realize what they are doing when sitting at the wheel.

Those people who do not have much driving experience quite often become involuntary participants in road accidents. The consequences of crashes can be different: it can be both a minor damage to someone else’s vehicle and a serious disaster. The fact is that the lack of experience is often a severe problem in situations that require immediate solutions. The person who has spent many years at the wheel has a good chance of reacting to an unexpected obstacle and avoiding a crash. At the same time, an inexperienced driver can inadvertently provoke a traffic accident and become its culprit. Therefore, the less experienced the driver is, the higher the risk to get into a crash.

In addition to the lack of experience, excessive self-confidence in personal driving skills and disregard for simple safety rules can also become the causes of accidents. As a rule, it applies to those people who have been driving for a long time and believe that they do not need to worry about their lives. An unfastened seat belt, the absence of a fire extinguisher and other violations can lead to irreversible consequences, and not only the perpetrator of a road accident but also a pedestrian or other driver can suffer. It is important to remember that it is essential to be vigilant on the road and not to assume that a significant driving experience is a complete guarantee of safety. Sometimes, excessive self-confidence can lead to dangerous consequences.

One of the frequent causes of accidents is the excess of the speed limit. This violation is dangerous because the person driving at high speed can not respond timely to the threat that has arisen. In this case, the damage from the crash while driving fast will be significantly greater than that from slow driving. The effects of accidents caused by such violations can be severe, and it is crucial not to allow speeding.

Thus, the most common causes of accidents are drunk driving, the lack of driving experience or too much self-confidence, as well as speeding. The consequences of an accident can be extremely severe both for drivers themselves and for people around them. The compliance with traffic rules will help to avoid accidents and be safe.

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IvyPanda. (2023, October 30). Car Accidents Causes and Effects. https://ivypanda.com/essays/car-accidents-causes-and-effects/

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IvyPanda . "Car Accidents Causes and Effects." October 30, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/car-accidents-causes-and-effects/.

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By Stephen King

When my wife and I are at our summer house in western Maine, I walk four miles every day unless it’s pouring down rain. Three miles of this walk are on dirt roads that wind through the woods; a mile of it is on Route 5, a two-lane blacktop highway that runs between Bethel and Fryeburg.

The third week in June of 1999 was an extraordinarily happy one for my wife and for me; our three kids, now grown and scattered across the country, were visiting, and it was the first time in nearly six months that we’d all been under the same roof. As an extra bonus, our first grandchild was in the house, three months old and happily jerking at a helium balloon tied to his foot.

On June 19th, I took our younger son to the Portland Jetport, where he caught a flight back to New York. I drove home, had a brief nap, and then set out on my usual walk. We were planning to go en famille to see a movie in nearby North Conway that evening, and I had just enough time to go for my walk before packing everybody up for the trip.

I set out around four o’clock in the afternoon, as well as I can remember. Just before reaching the main road (in western Maine, any road with a white line running down the middle of it is a main road), I stepped into the woods and urinated. Two months would pass before I was able to take another leak standing up.

When I reached the highway, I turned north, walking on the gravel shoulder, against traffic. One car passed me, also headed north. About three-quarters of a mile farther along, I was told later, the woman driving that car noticed a light-blue Dodge van heading south. The van was looping from one side of the road to the other, barely under the driver’s control. When she was safely past the wandering van, the woman turned to her passenger and said, “That was Stephen King walking back there. I sure hope that van doesn’t hit him.”

Most of the sight lines along the mile-long stretch of Route 5 that I walk are good, but there is one place, a short steep hill, where a pedestrian heading north can see very little of what might be coming his way. I was three-quarters of the way up this hill when the van came over the crest. It wasn’t on the road; it was on the shoulder. My shoulder. I had perhaps three-quarters of a second to register this. It was just time enough to think, My God, I’m going to be hit by a school bus, and to start to turn to my left. Then there is a break in my memory. On the other side of it, I’m on the ground, looking at the back of the van, which is now pulled off the road and tilted to one side. This image is clear and sharp, more like a snapshot than like a memory. There is dust around the van’s taillights. The license plate and the back windows are dirty. I register these things with no thought of myself or of my condition. I’m simply not thinking.

There’s another short break in my memory here, and then I am very carefully wiping palmfuls of blood out of my eyes with my left hand. When I can see clearly, I look around and notice a man sitting on a nearby rock. He has a cane resting in his lap. This is Bryan Smith, the forty-two-year-old man who hit me. Smith has got quite the driving record; he has racked up nearly a dozen vehicle-related offenses. He wasn’t watching the road at the moment that our lives collided because his Rottweiler had jumped from the very rear of his van onto the back seat, where there was an Igloo cooler with some meat stored in it. The Rottweiler’s name was Bullet. (Smith had another Rottweiler at home; that one was named Pistol.) Bullet started to nose at the lid of the cooler. Smith turned around and tried to push him away. He was still looking at Bullet and pushing his head away from the cooler when he came over the top of the knoll, still looking and pushing when he struck me. Smith told friends later that he thought he’d hit “a small deer” until he noticed my bloody spectacles lying on the front seat of his van. They were knocked from my face when I tried to get out of Smith’s way. The frames were bent and twisted, but the lenses were unbroken. They are the lenses I’m wearing now, as I write.

Smith sees that I’m awake and tells me that help is on the way. He speaks calmly, even cheerily. His look, as he sits on the rock with his cane across his lap, is one of pleasant commiseration: Ain’t the two of us just had the shittiest luck ? it says. He and Bullet had left the campground where they were staying, he later tells an investigator, because he wanted “some of those Marzes bars they have up to the store.” When I hear this detail some weeks later, it occurs to me that I have nearly been killed by a character out of one of my own novels. It’s almost funny.

Help is on the way, I think, and that’s probably good, because I’ve been in a hell of an accident. I’m lying in the ditch and there’s blood all over my face and my right leg hurts. I look down and see something I don’t like: my lap appears to be on sideways, as if my whole lower body had been wrenched half a turn to the right. I look back up at the man with the cane and say, “Please tell me it’s just dislocated.”

“Nah,” he says. Like his face, his voice is cheery, only mildly interested. He could be watching all this on TV while he noshes on one of those Marzes bars. “It’s broken in five, I’d say, maybe six places.”

“I’m sorry,” I tell him—God knows why—and then I’m gone again for a little while. It isn’t like blacking out; it’s more as if the film of memory had been spliced here and there.

When I come back this time, an orange-and-white van is idling at the side of the road with its flashers going. An emergency medical technician—Paul Fillebrown is his name—is kneeling beside me. He’s doing something. Cutting off my jeans, I think, although that might have come later.

I ask him if I can have a cigarette. He laughs and says, “Not hardly.” I ask him if I’m going to die. He tells me no, I’m not going to die, but I need to go to the hospital, and fast. Which one would I prefer, the one in Norway-South Paris or the one in Bridgton? I tell him I want to go to Bridgton, to Northern Cumberland Memorial Hospital, because my youngest child—the one I just took to the airport—was born there twenty-two years ago. I ask again if I’m going to die, and he tells me again that I’m not. Then he asks me whether I can wiggle the toes of my right foot. I wiggle them, thinking of an old rhyme my mother used to recite: “This little piggy went to market, this little piggy stayed home.” I should have stayed home, I think; going for a walk today was a bad idea. Then I remember that sometimes when people are paralyzed they think they’re moving but really aren’t.

“My toes, did they move?” I ask Paul Fillebrown. He says that they did, a good, healthy wiggle. “Do you swear to God?” I ask him, and I think he does. I’m starting to pass out again. Fillebrown asks me, very slowly and loudly, leaning down over my face, if my wife is at the big house on the lake. I can’t remember. I can’t remember where any of my family is, but I’m able to give him the telephone numbers both of our big house and of the cottage on the far side of the lake, where my daughter sometimes stays. Hell, I could give him my Social Security number if he asked. I’ve got all my numbers. It’s everything else that’s gone.

Other people are arriving now. Somewhere, a radio is crackling out police calls. I’m lifted onto a stretcher. It hurts, and I scream. Then I’m put into the back of the E.M.T. truck, and the police calls are closer. The doors shut and someone up front says, “You want to really hammer it.”

Paul Fillebrown sits down beside me. He has a pair of clippers, and he tells me that he’s going to have to cut the ring off the third finger of my right hand—it’s a wedding ring my wife gave me in 1983, twelve years after we were actually married. I try to tell Fillebrown that I wear it on my right hand because the real wedding ring is still on the ring finger of my left—the original two-ring set cost me fifteen dollars and ninety-five cents at Day’s Jewelers in Bangor, and I bought it a year and a half after I’d first met my wife, in the summer of 1969. I was working at the University of Maine library at the time. I had a great set of muttonchop sideburns, and I was staying just off campus, at Ed Price’s Rooms (seven bucks a week, one change of sheets included). Men had landed on the moon, and I had landed on the dean’s list. Miracles and wonders abounded. One afternoon, a bunch of us library guys had lunch on the grass behind the university bookstore. Sitting between Paolo Silva and Eddie Marsh was a trim girl with a raucous laugh, red-tinted hair, and the prettiest legs I had ever seen. She was carrying a copy of “Soul on Ice.” I hadn’t run across her in the library, and I didn’t believe that a college student could produce such a wonderful, unafraid laugh. Also, heavy reading or no heavy reading, she swore like a millworker. Her name was Tabitha Spruce. We were married in 1971. We’re still married, and she has never let me forget that the first time I met her I thought she was Eddie Marsh’s townie girlfriend. In fact, we came from similar working-class backgrounds; we both ate meat; we were both political Democrats with typical Yankee suspicions of life outside New England. And the combination has worked. Our marriage has outlasted all of the world’s leaders except Castro.

Some garbled version of the ring story comes out, probably nothing that Paul Fillebrown can actually understand, but he keeps nodding and smiling as he cuts that second, more expensive wedding ring off my swollen right hand. By the time I call Fillebrown to thank him, some two months later, I know that he probably saved my life by administering the correct on-scene medical aid and then getting me to a hospital, at a speed of roughly ninety miles an hour, over patched and bumpy back roads.

Fillebrown suggests that perhaps someone else was watching out for me. “I’ve been doing this for twenty years,” he tells me over the phone, “and when I saw the way you were lying in the ditch, plus the extent of the impact injuries, I didn’t think you’d make it to the hospital. You’re a lucky camper to still be with the program.”

The extent of the impact injuries is such that the doctors at Northern Cumberland Hospital decide they cannot treat me there. Someone summons a LifeFlight helicopter to take me to Central Maine Medical Center, in Lewiston. At this point, Tabby, my older son, and my daughter arrive. The kids are allowed a brief visit; Tabby is allowed to stay longer. The doctors have assured her that I’m banged up but I’ll make it. The lower half of my body has been covered. She isn’t allowed to see the interesting way that my lap has shifted around to the right, but she is allowed to wash the blood off my face and pick some of the glass out of my hair.

There’s a long gash in my scalp, the result of my collision with Bryan Smith’s windshield. This impact came at a point less than two inches from the steel driver’s-side support post. Had I struck that, I would have been killed or rendered permanently comatose. Instead, I was thrown over the van and fourteen feet into the air. If I had landed on the rocks jutting out of the ground beyond the shoulder of Route 5, I would also likely have been killed or permanently paralyzed, but I landed just shy of them. “You must have pivoted to the left just a little at the last second,” I am told later, by the doctor who takes over my case. “If you hadn’t, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

The LifeFlight helicopter arrives in the parking lot, and I am wheeled out to it. The clatter of the helicopter’s rotors is loud. Someone shouts into my ear, “Ever been in a helicopter before, Stephen?” The speaker sounds jolly, excited for me. I try to say yes, I’ve been in a helicopter before—twice, in fact—but I can’t. It’s suddenly very tough to breathe. They load me into the helicopter. I can see one brilliant wedge of blue sky as we lift off, not a cloud in it. There are more radio voices. This is my afternoon for hearing voices, it seems. Meanwhile, it’s getting even harder to breathe. I gesture at someone, or try to, and a face bends upside down into my field of vision.

“Feel like I’m drowning,” I whisper.

Somebody checks something, and someone else says, “His lung has collapsed.”

There’s a rattle of paper as something is unwrapped, and then the second person speaks into my ear, loudly so as to be heard over the rotors: “We’re going to put a chest tube in you, Stephen. You’ll feel some pain, a little pinch. Hold on.”

It’s been my experience that if a medical person tells you that you’re going to feel a little pinch he’s really going to hurt you. This time, it isn’t as bad as I expected, perhaps because I’m full of painkillers, perhaps because I’m on the verge of passing out again. It’s like being thumped on the right side of my chest by someone holding a short sharp object. Then there’s an alarming whistle, as if I’d sprung a leak. In fact, I suppose I have. A moment later, the soft in-out of normal respiration, which I’ve listened to my whole life (mostly without being aware of it, thank God), has been replaced by an unpleasant shloop-shloop-shloop sound. The air I’m taking in is very cold, but it’s air, at least, and I keep breathing it. I don’t want to die, and, as I lie in the helicopter looking out at the bright summer sky, I realize that I am actually lying in death’s doorway. Someone is going to pull me one way or the other pretty soon; it’s mostly out of my hands. All I can do is lie there and listen to my thin, leaky breathing: shloop-shloop-shloop .

Ten minutes later, we set down on the concrete landing pad of the Central Maine Medical Center. To me, it feels as if we’re at the bottom of a concrete well. The blue sky is blotted out, and the whap-whap-whap of the helicopter rotors becomes magnified and echoey, like the clapping of giant hands.

Still breathing in great leaky gulps, I am lifted out of the helicopter. Someone bumps the stretcher, and I scream. “Sorry, sorry, you’re O.K., Stephen,” someone says—when you’re badly hurt, everyone calls you by your first name.

“Tell Tabby I love her very much,” I say as I am first lifted and then wheeled very fast down some sort of descending walkway. I suddenly feel like crying.

“You can tell her that yourself,” the someone says. We go through a door. There is air-conditioning, and lights flow past overhead. Doctors are paged over loudspeakers. It occurs to me, in a muddled sort of way, that just an hour ago I was taking a walk and planning to pick some berries in a field that overlooks Lake Kezar. I wasn’t going to pick for long, though; I’d have to be home by five-thirty because we were going to see “The General’s Daughter,” starring John Travolta. Travolta played the bad guy in the movie version of “Carrie,” my first novel, a long time ago.

“When?” I ask. “When can I tell her?”

“Soon,” the voice says, and then I pass out again. This time, it’s no splice but a great big whack taken out of the memory film; there are a few flashes, confused glimpses of faces and operating rooms and looming X-ray machinery; there are delusions and hallucinations, fed by the morphine and Dilaudid dripping into me; there are echoing voices and hands that reach down to paint my dry lips with swabs that taste of peppermint. Mostly, though, there is darkness.

Bryan Smith’s estimate of my injuries turned out to be conservative. My lower leg was broken in at least nine places. The orthopedic surgeon who put me together again, the formidable David Brown, said that the region below my right knee had been reduced to “so many marbles in a sock.” The extent of those lower-leg injuries necessitated two deep incisions—they’re called medial and lateral fasciotomies—to release the pressure caused by my exploded tibia and also to allow blood to flow back into my lower leg. If I hadn’t had the fasciotomies (or if they had been delayed), it probably would have been necessary to amputate my leg. My right knee was split almost directly down the middle, and I suffered an acetabular fracture of the right hip—a serious derailment, in other words—and an open femoral intertrochanteric fracture in the same area. My spine was chipped in eight places. Four ribs were broken. My right collarbone held, but the flesh above it had been stripped raw. The laceration in my scalp took almost thirty stitches.

Yeah, on the whole I’d say Bryan Smith was a tad conservative.

Mr. Smith’s driving behavior in this case was eventually examined by a grand jury, which indicted him on two counts: driving to endanger (pretty serious) and aggravated assault (very serious, the kind of thing that means jail time). After due consideration, the district attorney responsible for prosecuting such cases in my corner of the world allowed Smith to plead out to the lesser charge of driving to endanger. He received six months of county jail time (sentence suspended) and a year’s suspension of his right to drive. He was also placed on probation for a year, with restrictions on other motor vehicles, such as snowmobiles and A.T.V.s. Bryan Smith could conceivably be back on the road in the fall or winter of 2001.

David Brown put my leg back together in five marathon surgical procedures that left me thin, weak, and nearly at the end of my endurance. They also left me with at least a fighting chance to walk again. A large steel and carbon-fibre apparatus called an external fixator was clamped to my leg. Eight large steel pegs called Schanz pins ran through the fixator and into the bones above and below my knee. Five smaller steel rods radiated out from the knee. These looked sort of like a child’s drawing of sunrays. The knee itself was locked in place. Three times a day, nurses unwrapped the smaller pins and the much larger Schanz pins and swabbed the holes with hydrogen peroxide. I’ve never had my leg dipped in kerosene and then lit on fire, but if that ever happens I’m sure it will feel quite a bit like daily pin care.

I entered the hospital on June 19th. Around the thirtieth, I got up for the first time, staggering three steps to a commode, where I sat with my hospital johnny in my lap and my head down, trying not to weep and failing. I told myself that I had been lucky, incredibly lucky, and usually that worked, because it was true. Sometimes it didn’t work, that’s all—and then I cried.

A day or two after those initial steps, I started physical therapy. During my first session, I managed ten steps in a downstairs corridor, lurching along with the help of a walker. One other patient was learning to walk again at the same time as me, a wispy eighty-year-old woman named Alice, who was recovering from a stroke. We cheered each other on when we had enough breath to do so. On our third day in the hall, I told Alice that her slip was showing.

“Your ass is showing, sonny boy,” she wheezed, and kept going.

By July 4th, I was able to sit up in a wheelchair long enough to go out to the loading dock behind the hospital and watch the fireworks. It was a fiercely hot night, the streets filled with people eating snacks, drinking beer and soda, watching the sky. Tabby stood next to me, holding my hand, as the sky lit up red and green, blue and yellow. She was staying in a condo apartment across the street from the hospital, and each morning she brought me poached eggs and tea. I could use the nourishment, it seemed. In 1997, I weighed two hundred and sixteen pounds. On the day that I was released from Central Maine Medical Center, I weighed a hundred and sixty-five.

I came home to Bangor on July 9th, after a hospital stay of three weeks, and began a daily-rehabilitation program that included stretching, bending, and crutch-walking. I tried to keep my courage and my spirits up. On August 4th, I went back to C.M.M.C. for another operation. When I woke up this time, the Schanz pins in my upper thigh were gone. Dr. Brown pronounced my recovery “on course” and sent me home for more rehab and physical therapy. (Those of us undergoing P.T. know that the letters actually stand for Pain and Torture.) And in the midst of all this something else happened.

On July 24th, five weeks after Bryan Smith hit me with his Dodge van, I began to write again.

I didn’t want to go back to work. I was in a lot of pain, unable to bend my right knee. I couldn’t imagine sitting behind a desk for long, even in a wheelchair. Because of my cataclysmically smashed hip, sitting was torture after forty minutes or so, impossible after an hour and a quarter. How was I supposed to write when the most pressing thing in my world was how long until the next dose of Percocet?

Yet, at the same time, I felt that I was all out of choices. I had been in terrible situations before, and writing had helped me get over them—had helped me to forget myself, at least for a little while. Perhaps it would help me again. It seemed ridiculous to think it might be so, given the level of my pain and physical incapacitation, but there was that voice in the back of my mind, patient and implacable, telling me that, in the words of the Chambers Brothers, the “time has come today.” It was possible for me to disobey that voice but very difficult not to believe it.

In the end, it was Tabby who cast the deciding vote, as she so often has at crucial moments. The former Tabitha Spruce is the person in my life who’s most likely to say that I’m working too hard, that it’s time to slow down, but she also knows that sometimes it’s the work that bails me out. For me, there have been times when the act of writing has been an act of faith, a spit in the eye of despair. Writing is not life, but I think that sometimes it can be a way back to life. When I told Tabby on that July morning that I thought I’d better go back to work, I expected a lecture. Instead, she asked me where I wanted to set up. I told her I didn’t know, hadn’t even thought about it.

For years after we were married, I had dreamed of having the sort of massive oak-slab desk that would dominate a room—no more child’s desk in a trailer closet, no more cramped kneehole in a rented house. In 1981, I had found that desk and placed it in a spacious, skylighted study in a converted stable loft at the rear of our new house. For six years, I had sat behind that desk either drunk or wrecked out of my mind, like a ship’s captain in charge of a voyage to nowhere. Then, a year or two after I sobered up, I got rid of it and put in a living-room suite where it had been. In the early nineties, before my kids had moved on to their own lives, they sometimes came up there in the evening to watch a basketball game or a movie and eat a pizza. They usually left a boxful of crusts behind, but I didn’t care. I got another desk—handmade, beautiful, and half the size of my original T. rex—and I put it at the far-west end of the office, in a corner under the eave. Now, in my wheelchair, I had no way to get to it.

Tabby thought about it for a moment and then said, “I can rig a table for you in the back hall, outside the pantry. There are plenty of outlets—you can have your Mac, the little printer, and a fan.” The fan was a must—it had been a terrifically hot summer, and on the day I went back to work the temperature outside was ninety-five. It wasn’t much cooler in the back hall.

Tabby spent a couple of hours putting things together, and that afternoon she rolled me out through the kitchen and down the newly installed wheelchair ramp into the back hall. She had made me a wonderful little nest there: laptop and printer connected side by side, table lamp, manuscript (with my notes from the month before placed neatly on top), pens, and reference materials. On the corner of the desk was a framed picture of our younger son, which she had taken earlier that summer.

“Is it all right?” she asked.

“It’s gorgeous,” I said.

She got me positioned at the table, kissed me on the temple, and then left me there to find out if I had anything left to say. It turned out I did, a little. That first session lasted an hour and forty minutes, by far the longest period I’d spent upright since being struck by Smith’s van. When it was over, I was dripping with sweat and almost too exhausted to sit up straight in my wheelchair. The pain in my hip was just short of apocalyptic. And the first five hundred words were uniquely terrifying—it was as if I’d never written anything before in my life. I stepped from one word to the next like a very old man finding his way across a stream on a zigzag line of wet stones.

Tabby brought me a Pepsi—cold and sweet and good—and as I drank it I looked around and had to laugh despite the pain. I’d written “Carrie” and “Salem’s Lot” in the laundry room of a rented trailer. The back hall of our house resembled it enough to make me feel as if I’d come full circle.

There was no miraculous breakthrough that afternoon, unless it was the ordinary miracle that comes with any attempt to create something. All I know is that the words started coming a little faster after a while, then a little faster still. My hip still hurt, my back still hurt, my leg, too, but those hurts began to seem a little farther away. I’d got going; there was that much. After that, things could only get better.

Things have continued to get better. I’ve had two more operations on my leg since that first sweltering afternoon in the back hall. I’ve also had a fairly serious bout of infection, and I still take roughly a hundred pills a day, but the external fixator is now gone and I continue to write. On some days, that writing is a pretty grim slog. On others—more and more of them, as my mind reaccustoms itself to its old routine—I feel that buzz of happiness, that sense of having found the right words and put them in a line. It’s like lifting off in an airplane: you’re on the ground, on the ground, on the ground . . . and then you’re up, riding on a cushion of air and the prince of all you survey. I still don’t have much strength—I can do a little less than half of what I used to be able to do in a day—but I have enough. Writing did not save my life, but it is doing what it has always done: it makes my life a brighter and more pleasant place. ♦

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128 Car Accident Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

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Car accidents are unfortunately a common occurrence in today's world. Whether it's due to distracted driving, speeding, or impaired driving, they can have devastating consequences. If you're tasked with writing an essay on car accidents, it can be challenging to come up with a unique and engaging topic. To help you get started, here are 128 car accident essay topic ideas and examples:

• The causes and effects of distracted driving.
• How technology can help prevent car accidents.
• The impact of drunk driving on society.
• The role of government regulations in reducing car accidents.
• The importance of driver education in preventing accidents.
• The psychological trauma faced by car accident survivors.
• The economic costs of car accidents on individuals and society.
• The role of insurance companies in car accident settlements.
• The impact of car accidents on mental health.
• The role of emergency responders in car accident scenes.
• The dangers of aggressive driving and road rage.
• The impact of weather conditions on car accidents.
• The role of traffic laws in preventing car accidents.
• The consequences of not wearing seatbelts in car accidents.
• The impact of car accidents on the environment.
• The role of autonomous vehicles in reducing car accidents.
• The legal implications of car accidents.
• The role of public transportation in reducing car accidents.
• The impact of car accidents on healthcare systems.
• The role of media coverage in raising awareness about car accidents.
• The impact of car accidents on the economy.
• The role of car manufacturers in improving car safety.
• The psychological effects on witnesses of car accidents.
• The impact of fatigue on car accidents.
• The role of bystanders in providing assistance at car accident scenes.
• The consequences of speeding in car accidents.
• The role of law enforcement in preventing car accidents.
• The impact of distracted pedestrians on car accidents.
• The dangers of using mobile phones while driving.
• The role of car accident reconstruction in determining fault.
• The impact of car accidents on families.
• The consequences of driving under the influence of drugs.
• The role of public awareness campaigns in preventing car accidents.
• The impact of road infrastructure on car accidents.
• The role of driver assistance systems in reducing car accidents.
• The consequences of not properly maintaining vehicles in car accidents.
• The impact of car accidents on insurance premiums.
• The role of driver fatigue monitoring systems in preventing accidents.
• The consequences of underage driving in car accidents.
• The impact of car accidents on wildlife.
• The role of legal representation for car accident victims.
• The psychological effects on drivers involved in fatal car accidents.
• The impact of car accidents on the tourism industry.
• The role of driver behavior in preventing car accidents.
• The consequences of not following traffic signs and signals in car accidents.
• The impact of car accidents on road infrastructure.
• The role of witness testimony in car accident investigations.
• The consequences of distracted walking in car accidents.
• The impact of car accidents on emergency medical services.
• The role of vehicle maintenance in preventing car accidents.
• The psychological effects on children involved in car accidents.
• The impact of car accidents on the legal system.
• The role of driver training programs in reducing car accidents.
• The consequences of street racing in car accidents.
• The impact of car accidents on wildlife conservation efforts.
• The role of traffic engineering in preventing car accidents.
• The consequences of not yielding right-of-way in car accidents.
• The impact of car accidents on the transportation industry.
• The role of accident reconstruction experts in car accident investigations.
• The psychological effects on first responders at car accident scenes.
• The impact of car accidents on urban planning.
• The role of vehicle safety inspections in preventing accidents.
• The consequences of drowsy driving in car accidents.
• The impact of car accidents on tourism destinations.
• The role of traffic enforcement technology in reducing car accidents.
• The consequences of street lighting deficiencies in car accidents.
• The impact of car accidents on the construction industry.
• The role of forensic science in car accident investigations.
• The psychological effects on families of car accident victims.
• The impact of car accidents on local businesses.
• The role of driver behavior monitoring systems in preventing accidents.
• The consequences of reckless driving in car accidents.
• The impact of car accidents on wildlife habitats.
• The role of road safety audits in preventing car accidents.
• The consequences of not using turn signals in car accidents.
• The impact of car accidents on the tourism economy.
• The role of data analysis in car accident prevention.
• The psychological effects on survivors of severe car accidents.
• The impact of car accidents on transportation infrastructure funding.
• The role of driver education programs in reducing car accidents.
• The consequences of impaired driving in car accidents.
• The impact of car accidents on endangered species.
• The role of road signage in preventing car accidents.
• The consequences of tailgating in car accidents.
• The impact of car accidents on local communities.
• The role of accident reconstruction software in car accident investigations.
• The psychological effects on witnesses of fatal car accidents.
• The impact of car accidents on retail businesses.
• The role of driver monitoring systems in preventing accidents.
• The consequences of aggressive lane changing in car accidents.
• The impact of car accidents on national parks.
• The role of road markings in preventing car accidents.
• The consequences of driving under the influence of prescription drugs in car accidents.
• The impact of car accidents on the real estate market.
• The role of vehicle telematics in reducing car accidents.
• The psychological effects on survivors of multiple car accidents.
• The impact of car accidents on agricultural industries.
• The role of accident reconstruction simulations in car accident investigations.
• The consequences of running red lights in car accidents.
• The impact of car accidents on public transportation systems.
• The role of driver distraction detection systems in preventing accidents.
• The consequences of failing to yield to pedestrians in car accidents.
• The impact of car accidents on the entertainment industry.
• The role of traffic flow analysis in preventing car accidents.
• The consequences of driving under the influence of over-the-counter medications in car accidents.
• The impact of car accidents on small businesses.
• The role of accident scene documentation in car accident investigations.
• The psychological effects on survivors of rollover car accidents.
• The impact of car accidents on the hospitality industry.
• The role of traffic signal optimization in preventing car accidents.
• The consequences of distracted driving due to eating in car accidents.
• The impact of car accidents on the fashion industry.
• The role of predictive analytics in reducing car accidents.
• The consequences of ignoring yield signs in car accidents.
• The impact of car accidents on the music industry.
• The role of road safety audits in preventing car accidents in developing countries.
• The consequences of driving under the influence of energy drinks in car accidents.
• The impact of car accidents on local festivals and events.
• The role of accident reconstruction animations in car accident investigations.
• The psychological effects on survivors of head-on car accidents.
• The impact of car accidents on the film industry.
• The role of traffic calming measures in preventing car accidents in residential areas.
• The consequences of distracted driving due to grooming in car accidents.
• The impact of car accidents on the sports industry.
• The role of predictive modeling in reducing car accidents in urban areas.
• The consequences of ignoring stop signs in car accidents.
• The impact of car accidents on the restaurant industry.
• The role of accident reconstruction virtual reality simulations in car accident investigations.

These essay topic ideas and examples should provide you with a wide range of options to explore the various aspects of car accidents. Remember to choose a topic that interests you and aligns with the requirements of your assignment. Good luck with your essay!

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How to Describe a Car Accident in Writing (21 Best Tips)

Writing about a car accident can be tricky, particularly if you want your description to be vivid, accurate, and engaging.

Here’s how to describe a car accident in writing:

Describe a car crash in writing by capturing sensory details, using precise language, leveraging emotions, and employing literary devices. Use a blend of imagery, metaphors, and similes to evoke feelings and make readers feel like they are in the scene.

In this article, we’re going to provide you with 21 top tips on how to nail car accident descriptions.

1. Setting the Scene

Table of Contents

Writing about a car accident doesn’t just mean describing the crash itself.

It’s important to first set the scene, painting a picture in your reader’s mind of where and when the accident takes place.

Consider the wider environment – was it a bustling city street or a quiet rural road? What was the weather like – was it a sunny, clear day or a foggy night with poor visibility?

All these details add depth to your description and give your readers a sense of place and time.

But remember to keep it simple – your aim is to paint a clear picture, not to overwhelm your reader with details.

Examples: “It was a foggy Tuesday evening on the quiet, unlit country road…” or “In the midst of the busy city traffic under the scorching summer sun…” .

2. The Sound of Impact

When writing about a car accident, it’s not just about what your characters see – it’s also about what they hear.

The sound of a car accident can be just as impactful as the visuals.

Is it a deafening crash, a crunch of metal, or the screech of tires?

Each sound can paint a different picture of the severity and nature of the accident. Incorporating these auditory details can help you create a more immersive and visceral experience for your readers.

Examples: “The eerie silence was shattered by the deafening crash of metal on metal…” or “The sudden screech of burning rubber echoed through the night…” .

3. The Power of Slow Motion

In high-stress situations like a car accident, people often report that time seems to slow down.

This can be a powerful tool in your writing.

By describing the events in slow motion, you can increase the tension and drama of the scene.

This approach allows you to break down the accident into its constituent parts, detailing every bit of the unfolding disaster.

You can delve into the minute details – the horrified expressions, the flying glass, the crunching of metal – making the description more dramatic and engaging.

Examples: “Time seemed to slow, each second stretching out as the two vehicles hurtled towards each other…” or “In the stretched-out seconds that followed, every detail was horrifyingly clear…” .

4. Invoking Emotions

Car accidents are emotionally charged events, and you should aim to convey these emotions in your writing.

Describe not only the physical actions but also how the characters involved are feeling.

Are they shocked, terrified, disoriented, or filled with adrenaline?

How do these emotions affect their actions and perceptions?

By incorporating the emotional side of the event, you can make your description more relatable and engaging, pulling your readers into the story.

Examples: “Shock rippled through her, icy and paralyzing, as she stared at the wreckage…” or “Fear gripped him, turning his stomach as he surveyed the scene…” .

5. Aftermath Description

The aftermath of a car accident is just as important to describe as the event itself.

The silence or chaos that follows, the reactions of bystanders, the arrival of emergency services – all these details can add to the overall impact of your description.

This is also a good time to delve deeper into the emotional and physical consequences of the accident for your characters.

Are they injured, distraught, relieved, or in shock? The aftermath allows you to explore these reactions in a more introspective way.

Examples: “In the deafening silence that followed, she was acutely aware of the ringing in her ears…” or “As the sirens wailed in the distance, he found himself shaking, the adrenaline slowly ebbing away…” .

6. Use of Metaphors and Similes

Using metaphors and similes can enhance your car accident description, making it more vivid and memorable.

These literary tools can help you convey the intensity, speed, and violence of a car accident in a more emotive and engaging way.

Just remember to keep your comparisons relevant and easy to understand.

Avoid overuse or mixing metaphors, as this can confuse your readers and detract from the power of your description.

Examples: “The cars collided like two heavyweight boxers in the ring…” or “The pickup spun like a top, thrown off balance by the impact…” .

7. The Role of the Unexpected

A key aspect of car accidents is their unexpected and sudden nature.

By emphasizing this surprise element in your writing, you can convey the shock and disorientation that often accompanies such incidents.

It’s crucial to avoid foreshadowing the accident too heavily, as it might diminish the element of surprise.

Instead, have the accident interrupt the normal flow of events, emphasizing the abrupt shift from ordinary to chaotic.

Examples: “She was singing along to the radio one moment; the next, her world was flipped upside down…” or “In the blink of an eye, the usual humdrum of his commute turned into a chaos of shattered glass and twisted metal…” .

8. Sense Beyond Sight

Remember that a car accident isn’t just a visual spectacle – it’s a sensory experience that engages all the senses.

Make sure to include descriptions of not just what your characters see, but also what they smell, taste, touch, and hear.

Perhaps there’s the acrid scent of burning rubber or the metallic taste of fear.

Maybe the airbag has a surprisingly soft texture, or the silence after the crash is deafening.

Including these sensory details can make your description more immersive and realistic.

Examples: “The sharp tang of gasoline filled the air…” or “Her hands trembled as they brushed against the smooth surface of the deployed airbag…” .

9. External Perspectives

Consider using the perspective of a third-party observer to provide a different viewpoint of the accident.

This could be a passerby, a fellow motorist, or even a character viewing the scene from a nearby building.

This perspective shift can allow you to describe the accident in a broader context and offer details that the involved parties may miss in the chaos.

It can also provide an emotional counterpoint to the intense emotions of those directly involved in the accident.

Examples: “From his vantage point on the sidewalk, he watched the vehicles collide with a sickening crunch…” or “She looked out of her office window just in time to see the pickup truck skid off the road…” .

10. The Chaos of Confusion

Car accidents can be disorienting and confusing, and you should aim to convey this in your writing.

Describe how characters struggle to understand what’s happening, their thought processes fractured and disjointed.

This approach can make your description more realistic and engaging, as it mirrors the confusion that often follows real-life accidents.

Be sure to balance this chaos with enough clarity to ensure your readers understand the sequence of events.

Examples: “His thoughts tumbled over each other in a frantic whirl as he tried to comprehend what just happened…” or “She blinked, once, twice, but the scene before her didn’t make sense…” .

11. An Array of Actions

In the aftermath of a car accident, the characters involved will likely take a variety of actions, ranging from checking themselves for injuries to calling for help.

By describing these actions in detail, you can show how your characters respond to the crisis and further develop their personalities.

Remember to keep these actions realistic and consistent with your characters’ personalities and abilities.

Avoid turning them into superheroes (unless, of course, they are) and instead focus on their human reactions.

Examples: “Shaking, he reached for his cell phone, his fingers fumbling over the keys as he dialed 911…” or “Ignoring the throbbing in her head, she crawled out of the car to check on the other driver…” .

12. Leverage the Fear Factor

A car accident can be a terrifying experience, and fear is a powerful emotion that you can leverage in your writing.

Describe how fear affects your characters’ thoughts, feelings, and actions to create a more intense and engaging description.

It’s essential to show, not tell, when describing fear.

Don’t just say your character is scared; show how their heart pounds, their breath quickens, or their hands tremble.

Examples: “Her heart pounded in her chest like a wild drum, each beat echoing her rising panic…” or “Cold fear wrapped around him, constricting his breath as he took in the scene…” .

13. The Power of Precise Language

When describing a car accident, it’s essential to use precise, concrete language.

This helps you paint a clearer picture of the scene and makes your description more vivid and engaging.

Avoid vague descriptions and opt for specific details.

Instead of saying a car is damaged, describe how its bumper is crumpled or its windshield is shattered.

These details make your description more engaging and realistic.

Examples: “The impact had crumpled the hood of his car like a piece of paper…” or “A spiderweb of cracks sprawled across her windshield, obscuring her view…” .

14. Introducing the Innocuous

Amidst the chaos and tension of a car accident, an effective technique can be to highlight some innocuous, mundane detail that stands out to the character.

This can serve to underscore the surreal nature of the accident and its abrupt departure from normality.

Whether it’s the song that was playing on the radio before the crash, a billboard they were looking at, or a cup of coffee that’s now spilled all over the car, these small details can be surprisingly powerful.

Examples: “The radio continued to play cheerfully, a stark contrast to the scene of destruction…” or “The spilled coffee, now seeping into the upholstery, seemed absurdly irrelevant…” .

15. Capturing the Calm Before

One of the most striking aspects of a car accident is the abrupt transition from calm to chaos.

By focusing on the calm before the accident, you can heighten the impact of the crash.

Maybe your character was enjoying a scenic drive, lost in thought, or laughing with a passenger.

By emphasizing this peaceful moment before the crash, you make the accident itself more shocking and dramatic.

Examples: “She was laughing at his joke when the world exploded into chaos…” or “One moment he was admiring the sunset, the next, he was plunged into a nightmare…” .

16. Dialing into Details

When describing a car accident, the devil is truly in the details.

Delving into the nitty-gritty can help readers visualize the scene more vividly and comprehend the severity of the situation.

From the shattered glass scattering like diamonds to the deployed airbags billowing like clouds, focusing on these minute aspects can provide a richer narrative experience.

Examples: “Pieces of shattered glass twinkled menacingly in the afternoon sun…” or “The airbag deployed with a whoosh, obscuring his vision with a billowy white cloud…” .

17. Focus on the Fragments

Accidents can be disorienting, and one way to convey this is to describe the event in fragments.

This disjointed narrative style mirrors the characters’ likely state of mind and can make the description more immersive.

Break the sequence into flashes of action and perception, leaping from one detail to another.

This can create a sense of chaos and confusion, which enhances the realism of the accident scene.

Examples: “Headlights. A horn blaring. The squeal of brakes. Then, darkness…” or “Her own scream. Glass flying. The world spinning. Pain…” .

18. Physical Sensations

Remember to include physical sensations in your description.

Car accidents are physically jarring events, and detailing these sensations can make your description more realistic and engaging.

This could be the jolt of the impact, the sting of airbag dust, or the heat from a starting fire.

By including these details, you engage your readers’ senses and pull them into the scene.

Examples: “A jolt of pain shot through her as the car spun out of control…” or “He tasted the bitter tang of airbag dust as he coughed and spluttered…” .

19. The Raw Reality

Don’t shy away from describing the harsh realities of a car accident.

While it’s important not to be gratuitously graphic, acknowledging the potential for serious injuries and damage can make your description more believable and impactful.

This includes:

• The possible injuries your characters may sustain
• The damage to the vehicles involved
• The emotional trauma that follows such an event

Examples: “Blood trickled down his forehead, warm and sticky…” or “She stared at the mangled wreck that had once been her car, a lump forming in her throat…” .

20. The Dance of Debris

The chaos of a car accident is often accompanied by a dance of debris.

Whether it’s shards of glass, pieces of metal, or personal items thrown from the car, describing this can make your scene more vivid.

Such details not only add visual richness but also emphasize the violence of the collision and its capacity to disrupt and displace.

Examples: “Shards of glass sparkled in the air, suspended for a moment before raining down…” or “Her purse flew through the air, scattering lipstick and keys across the asphalt…” .

21. Mirror the Mayhem

Reflect the chaos of the car accident in your sentence structure.

Short, choppy sentences can convey the suddenness and disorientation of the crash, while longer, more complex sentences can illustrate the slow-motion perception often reported by those involved in accidents.

Experiment with your sentence structure to enhance the mood and pace of your description.

This can make your writing more engaging and mirror the experience of the characters.

Examples: “Crash. Spin. Smoke. Silence…” or “Time seemed to stretch and warp, every second an eternity as the car rolled…” .

Words to Describe a Car Crash

• Catastrophic
• Devastating
• Heartrending
• Destructive

Phrases to Describe a Car Crash

• World shattered into chaos
• Collided with bone-jarring force
• Explosion of twisted metal
• Symphony of screeching tires
• Dance of debris
• Rain of shattered glass
• Terrifying ballet of destruction
• Scene of catastrophic devastation
• Whirlwind of chaos and confusion
• Blaze of twisted steel
• Shower of sparkling glass
• Terrifying melee of metal and glass
• Deafening crunch of collision
• Dizzying spin of disorientation
• Twisted wreckage of once-pristine vehicles
• Carnage of mangled steel
• Flash-flood of chaos
• Shockwave of destruction
• Eruption of violent chaos
• Volcano of vehicular violence
• Avalanche of disarray
• Cyclone of confusion
• Thunderclap of colliding metal
• Lightning strike of sudden impact
• Tidal wave of terror
• Monsoon of mayhem
• Quake of rattling destruction
• Tsunami of shock and fear
• Gale of shrieking brakes
• Whirlpool of disarray and dread

Metaphors to Describe a Car Crash

• A symphony of destruction
• A dance of death and devastation
• A cruel twist of fate’s knife
• The world’s most terrifying roller coaster
• A sudden plunge into a nightmare
• An unexpected descent into chaos
• A fierce storm of metal and glass
• A cruel game of chance and fate
• An orchestra of shrieking metal and screaming tires
• A deadly ballet of twisted steel
• A chaotic waltz of destruction
• A whirlwind tour through the heart of fear
• A chilling brush with death’s icy hand
• An express elevator drop into terror
• A horrifying journey into the belly of the beast
• An uninvited guest at death’s door
• A rollercoaster ride through Hell’s amusement park
• A baptism by fire and steel
• A stormy sea of spinning chaos
• A chilling ride on the ghost train of fate
• A sudden detour into the twilight zone
• A deadly lottery with fate’s grim reaper
• A spinning top in the hands of a cruel child
• A nightmarish descent down the rabbit hole
• A jarring journey into the unknown
• A chilling dance with death
• An unplanned trip down disaster’s highway
• A silent scream in the face of devastation
• A tumultuous tumble in the tumble-dryer of fate
• A crushing embrace with the jaws of destruction.

3 Examples of How To Describe a Car Accident in Writing

Here are three full examples of how to describe a car accident in writing (with author notes in parenthesis):

Thriller Example

Detective John Marlowe was used to danger. High-speed chases, stand-offs, even the occasional gunfight, but he’d never expected danger to strike during his morning coffee run.

The intersection of 5th and Elm was a picture of serenity bathed in the golden glow of dawn when his world shattered in a symphony of twisted metal and shattered glass. His seasoned reflexes were lost in the chaos of the unexpected, the normal humdrum of his commute turned into a terrifying whirlwind (Tip 7: The Role of the Unexpected ).

A cacophony of sound filled the inside of his car—horns blaring, tires squealing, his own breath caught in his throat.

The stench of burning rubber and gasoline stung his nostrils as hot shards of glass rained down on him.

His hands were trembling on the wheel, his heart pounding a panicked rhythm in his chest.

Then silence—a deafening, hollow silence that swallowed the chaos.

It was the calm after the storm, a calm that seemed ridiculously out of place in his world turned upside down (Tip 8: Sense Beyond Sight; Tip 12: Leverage the Fear Factor ).

Romance Example

In the passenger seat of Luke’s old Chevy, Megan was lost in a world of sweet nothings and stolen kisses.

Their fingers entwined on the gearshift, a familiar love song hummed softly through the speakers.

She was laughing at one of his jokes when a blinding light came from nowhere. One moment they were suspended in the soft, romantic glow of the setting sun, the next, they were plunged into a nightmare (Tip 15: Capturing the Calm Before).

The crash of metal on metal was shockingly loud, the airbag deploying with a force that took her breath away.

The world spun in a dizzying blur of motion and sound.

Pain radiated through her as the car spun out of control, the love song on the radio now a mocking reminder of the peaceful moments before.

The spilled coffee from their earlier cafe stop seemed absurdly irrelevant in the face of the destruction.

Her eyes met Luke’s, his face ashen and terrified, mirroring her own fear.

Then everything faded into a frightening blackness (Tip 14: Introducing the Innocuous; Tip 18: Physical Sensations ).

Fantasy Example

The enchanted carriage raced down the cobblestone streets of Eldoria, the mighty griffins pulling with all their might .

Inside, Princess Isolde clutched the amulet of Elara, her heart pounding with the fear of pursuit.

The streets were a labyrinth of shadows and flickering lamplights.

Suddenly, with a terrifying crash, another carriage appeared from a side alley, colliding with their own in a spectacular explosion of magic and splintered wood (Tip 13: The Power of Precise Languag e).

The griffins screeched in protest, the magical bonds tethering them to the carriage snapping with a deafening crack.

Shards of enchanted wood sparkled in the air, suspended for a moment before raining down onto the cobblestones.

A wave of dark magic erupted from the other carriage, shrouding the area in a pitch-black fog.

Isolde could taste the bitter tang of dark magic in the air, the amulet pulsating wildly in response (Tip 20: The Dance of Debris ).

She could see nothing through the magical fog, but she could hear the chaotic sounds of their pursuers closing in.

The world around her was a swirl of chaos and confusion, fear wrapping around her like a stifling cloak.

Yet, in the midst of the pandemonium, she held onto the amulet, the single beacon of hope in her fight against the dark forces (Tip 19: The Raw Reality ).

Before you go, here is a video about how to describe a car accident in writing:

Final Thoughts: How to Describe a Car Accident in Writing

When coming up your car crash description, figure out a way to do something creative that has never been done.

Make it story-specific, bigger, smaller, crazier.

Just make it sing.

Related Posts:

• How to Describe a Face in Writing (21 Best Tips + Examples)
• How to Describe a City in Writing (100+ Best Examples)
• How to Describe the Wind in Writing (100 Words + Examples)
• How To Describe a House in Writing (21 Tips for Beginners)

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Someone hit my parked car. What should I do?

It's happened to many of us at some point. You return to your car after shopping or an appointment to find a gouge in the door or a dent in the bumper. It's clear someone hit your car while it was parked.

It all depends on whether the other person provided their insurance information, whether fault can be determined conclusively, and if it makes sense to file a claim given the cost to repair your vehicle and your auto insurance deductible.

Is hitting a parked car considered a hit-and-run?

Anytime a driver leaves the scene of a crash without providing their contact information or leaving a note, it’s considered a hit-and-run . Whether it happened in a parking lot or on the street, motorists are required to stop after a collision, even if the damage to the vehicles is minor.

While the more severe penalties for hit-and-run accidents are reserved for wrecks that result in bodily injury, every state has different laws stating what a hit-and-run driver can be charged with. Even a misdemeanor hit-and-run offense can result in significant fines, potential jail time, and car insurance rate hikes.

The driver who hit my parked car left a note. Now what?

If the driver who hits your parked car leaves a note, they are essentially admitting fault. If they’ve included their insurance information and you’ve documented the damage to your car, the other driver’s insurance pays to repair your vehicle.

However, it’s still advisable to call the police even if the driver left a note so you can have a police report to submit as part of the claims process . This can be especially helpful if fault is contested later or the damage to your car is more extensive than it first appeared. As long as no one is hurt, call the non-emergency line for the police department to report the incident.

Be sure to take photos from different angles and get contact information for any witnesses before you leave the scene. If the driver left a note without specifying their insurance provider, you may need to contact them for more information.

Whose insurance company pays if someone hits my parked car?

The person who hits your car should have their insurance pay for vehicle damage, other damage to property, or bodily injuries as a result of the incident. However, if the driver who hit your car can’t be identified, your car insurance policy may have to cover repairs and injuries through one of the following types of coverage.

Uninsured motorist coverage

An uninsured motorist insurance claim through your insurance company will likely be required if the hit-and-run driver can’t be identified. Uninsured motorist property damage coverage would help pay for the cost of repairs to your car and any property damage as a result of the accident.

Collision coverage

If you don’t have uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, your collision insurance should cover any vehicle damages as a result of a hit-and-run accident involving a parked car.

Personal injury protection (PIP)

If there are bodily injuries as a result of a parked car hit-and-run, personal injury protection (PIP) or medical payments coverage (MedPay ) may cover those costs regardless of fault.

Read more: How to lower your car insurance rates (or find cheaper new coverage)

5 steps to take if your car gets hit while parked

Take the following steps to protect yourself in the aftermath of a parked car collision.

Step 1: Stay calm and assess the situation

Discovering that your car has been hit is stressful and upsetting. Taking a breath and making sure everyone is safe is the first priority.

Step 2: Consider filing an accident report with the police

Having an official accident report will be helpful if you decide to take action and file a property damage claim later or use your own insurance coverage to foot the bill.

Step 3: Contact the other driver

If the other driver isn’t on the scene but left a note with their phone number, contact them before you decide how you want to proceed. Be sure to get their insurance information even if they offer to pay for damage out-of-pocket.

Step 4: Document the accident

Whether you decide to file a police report or not, you’ll still need to carefully document the accident. Take photos of the damage and any tire marks, and get information from witnesses. Collect as much evidence as you can, including footage from security cameras.

Step 5: Contact your insurance company or other driver's insurer

You’ll want to contact the other driver’s insurance company or your own insurance agent as soon as possible. You have a short period of time to report the accident and file an insurance claim, so don’t procrastinate even if the damage is minor.

Will my insurance premium go up after a parked car accident claim?

Filing a claim with the other driver’s insurance for damage or injuries shouldn’t affect your car insurance premiums.

If you have to file a claim with your own insurance company after someone hits your parked car, most insurance companies differentiate between at-fault and no-fault accidents. However, your insurance rates could rise, especially if it’s one of several incidents in your recent driving history.

When you’ve hit a parked car and a claim is filed with your insurance provider, your rates will likely increase if you’re at fault. To avoid involving insurance, some drivers will make an effort to pay for minor damage to avoid rate hikes.

Be wary of this approach as it can leave you or the other driver on the hook for unexpected costs if damage or injuries from the collision are more severe than they appeared at the scene.

L.A. sees a surge of billboards for personal injury lawyers. You’ll never guess why

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Among the myriad side effects of the pandemic: a surge in billboards and bus ads for personal injury law firms.

They seem to have sprouted all over Los Angeles.

Morgan & Morgan’s blue-and-yellow billboards proudly declare “Size Matters,” Jacob Emrani’s ads with red cursive writing direct readers to CallJacob.com, and Pirnia Law’s silhouette designs say, “We didn’t meet by accident.” Billboards and bus ads for personal injury law firms have become a bigger part of the landscape.

Along with the entertainment industry, injury law firms dominate billboard space. According to the media intelligence company Vivvix, legal services have been among the top 10 industries featured in outdoor advertising in Los Angeles for the last decade.

Advertising experts attribute the abundance to the need to build brand awareness and market conditions brought on by the pandemic.

“There’s probably more ads for lawyers now than ever,” said Brian Alexander, an outdoor media strategist at Billboard Connection Los Angeles. “It has to be effective for these companies to continue doing it.”

Larry H. Parker, auto accident and personal injury attorney, dies at 75

Larry H. Parker’s face was on billboards along L.A.’s streets and freeways, but what solidified the Long Beach attorney and his firm in people’s minds were his daytime TV commercials.

March 15, 2024

During the pandemic, Alexander said, many industries were forced to slash advertising budgets to weather the economic downturn. This meant there was more billboard space available, for a lower price.

“When the market slowed down, there was definitely an impact on billboard ad-space occupancy and rates,” Alexander said. “The lawyers found opportunities in ad space that wasn’t available before.”

During the pandemic, personal injury lawyer James Wang was pictured wearing a mask on billboards around Los Angeles.

Wayne Cohen, founder of Cohen Injury Law Group, said injury lawyers are not immune to worsening economic conditions. The pandemic resulted in fewer car accidents, fewer in-person workplace accidents and a significant slowdown in courtrooms. But as the cost of ad space decreased, lawyers were able to take advantage, Cohen said.

But other factors, like a need to build name recognition, contribute to the trend too.

“I do get calls from law firms that say, ‘We want to be like Jacob Emrani or Sweet James,’” Alexander said. “They all want to be the next big thing. They see their competitors, and they want to be up there.”

Indeed, billboards can help develop a legal brand .

“Law straddles between a service and a business,” said Cohen, who has been in the industry for 30 years and specializes in car accidents. “It’s kind of in-between. There’s the trade of the practice of law, and then there’s the business of it, which is getting cases in the door.”

Lawyers have to consider the “acquisition cost per case,” Cohen said, meaning the amount it costs to get a case in the door relative to its value. Small law firms may spend a few thousand dollars a month on advertising, according to Cohen, while larger firms might spend more than $1 million.

Column: Vandalism or street art? What the graffiti-tagged high-rises say about L.A.

The colorful graffiti that adorns an abandoned skyscraper in downtown L.A. is, depending on who you ask, petty vandalism that plagues the city or vibrant street art that enriches.

Feb. 2, 2024

Outdoor advertising, also known as out-of-home advertising, delivers approximately 7.1 billion impressions — or occasions when a user sees it — per week in the Los Angeles market, according to the Out of Home Advertising Assn. of America.

Data provided by the association show that almost two-thirds of consumers recently recalled seeing a legal services outdoor ad, and more than 40% who saw a legal services ad engaged in some way, like talking about it with friends.

The cost of billboards varies widely depending on size and location. A full-size billboard in Los Angeles is roughly $5,000 to $10,000 per four-week period, Alexander said. On the Sunset Strip near Hollywood, the highest-demand area for outdoor advertising, a full-size billboard could cost $80,000 to $100,000 for four weeks.

As the market recovered from the pandemic at the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023, the billboard industry began to boom again, Alexander said. Personal injury law firms represented a large portion of this expansion.

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor: L.A. streets are deadlier because traffic laws aren’t enforced

More people are dying in L.A. traffic because driver recklessness has gone off the charts. A better solution than redesigning roads is to enforce traffic laws.

Jan. 28, 2024

“The billboard market was recovering and not only recovering but thriving and reaching new heights,” Alexander said.

Cohen, whose firm doesn’t purchase billboard space, said clients must do their due diligence before selecting a lawyer.

“You only have one shot at getting it right,” he said.

Having lots of billboard ads doesn’t necessarily reflect the quality of the lawyer.

“There has to be a return on investment on the advertising, or the lawyers wouldn’t do it,” Cohen said. “Does that mean that the lawyers who are the best advertisers are the best lawyers, the best advocates for their clients’ rights? I don’t even know if there’s a correlation there.”

More to Read

Representing yourself in court? L.A. Law Library can help you prepare

Feb. 27, 2024

Editorial: Fear-mongering on Measure HLA ignores what’s really scary — L.A.’s deadly streets

Feb. 21, 2024

Letters to the Editor: No one wants digital billboards. So why does City Hall insist on having them?

Dec. 10, 2023

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Caroline Petrow-Cohen is a 2023-24 reporting fellow at the Los Angeles Times. She is a recent graduate of Duke University, where she studied journalism, English and environmental science and policy.

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