1) December 2003. I was walking in the Chelsea/Midtown area during a snowstorm. It was quite lovely, all the new beautiful snow falling on the ground in the dark night. Very poetic, not at all foreshadowing my being hit by a car.
As I was crossing the street with the light, a car was making a left turn, also with the light. Obviously I had the right of way, but that didn't matter cuz I didn't see the car and the lady in the car couldn't see me until the last minute, when she slammed on the brakes. But snow does funny things to tires, such as not let them stop. My last thought before being nudged in the hip and tossed lightly onto the hood of the car was finally looking down and to the side at the car suddenly next to me and thinking "Thank goodness it stopped in time!" People think stupid things.
2) This past Friday. I was crossing 6th Avenue and Houston Street, an intersection I hate, Hate, HATE. For some reason the people making the right up 6th are always taking the turn like a banshee, if banshees could drive.
Again I had the light in my favor and again it was a vehicle, this time a huge private bus making a turn. Except this time the bus clearly saw me, as I was carrying a huge laundry basket in the middle of the day. The extremely patient bus driver waited as long as he possibly could without directly running me down and as soon as I passed, gunned the engine. The side of the bus thus jutted out and pushed me and my laundry the rest of the way across the street. A guy on a bike and a woman on a bench told me to sue, but I don't think I'm going to.
First a car, then a bus. I am making my way up in the vehicles-hit-by world. I hope to have been hit by a dumptruck, a helicopter and a space shuttle by the end of the decade. Wish me luck!
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Times I Have Been Hit By A Moving Vehicle
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1) I was about 14 years old. I was crossing the street (I believe I had the right of way, but it was a while ago and this whole memory is getting fuzzy) when I felt a Camry on my hip. Turns out my weird band teacher (who is also my neighbor) hit me with his car. I think he was basically doing what your bus did, getting really impatient to make a turn, except he decided not to wait for me to finish crossing the street. It was really slow so it didn't hurt, but it was a long time (I think 3 days) before I ever forgave him. I was very forgiving as a 14-year-old.
1a) When I was 12, I saw drunk guy stumble out of a bar in my town and get hit INTO THE AIR by a sports car. He landed near the curb and he went to shock while staring directly into my eyes. Nightmares for two years.
I realize this doesn't count.
This is where I always almost die.
It's got this weird, unexpected, two-way traffic thing going on.
I've decided, should I ever choose to commit suicide, I'm gonna do it on this street corner.
I can attest to Chris often almost dying there.
Another related story to getting hit by cars was the time Chris and I were driving around Union Square and saw a man get hit by a car. He seemed fine, but the memorable part of the story was that when he got hit, I screamed in a really stupid sounding voice "THAT MAN JUST GOT HIT BY THAT CAR!"
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