Thursday, May 19, 2011

Another Hit and Run

For the second time this year, a member of this family has witnessed a hit and run accident.

This time it was Sweetie, out to get gas for his vehicle. It happened at dusk, on a tiny lane between two highways, a street that was never meant to be a thoroughfare, but is now a cut through from one major artery to another. It has a 90
º bend that people tend to take way too fast, from either direction, and it is so narrow that often a vehicle taking the bend ends up in the middle of the road, instead of in one lane.

The victim was on a motorcycle. Sweetie came up on the scene in time to see the man on the ground, the bike hit the culvert about 50 yards away, and the tail lights of anther vehicle rounding the curve. He slammed on his brakes and got out of his car just in time to start directing traffic around the man, who was almost hit again while lying in the street.

Standing over him, Sweetie called EMS and tried to keep the man calm. Sweetie didn't want to move him, which is a good precaution, although as it turned out the man had two broken arms, and no other obvious injuries. The paramedics were there in less than five minutes, the deputy sheriff in about 3 minutes more.

Then the fire truck arrived, which is where it got a bid weird, Sweetie said. Once the fire fighters got there, and realized they weren't needed, they stood off to the side, shooting the breeze and smoking while the guy was lying there being tended. Yes, they have a stressful job and need to blow off steam and decompress sometimes, but that seemed to be a poor time to choose to do it.

The deputy sheriff didn't have a witness accident report with him, so he had Sweetie run up to the station to fill one out. As for Sweetie, he's just sorry he couldn't get the tag on the car, but it was more important to call for help and make sure the man wasn't injured further as the day darkened.

So, a bit more drama for someone in the house, in a house that seems to somehow draw this sort of thing.

We hope no more of this stuff for a while.



Today is

Boy's Club Day

Circus Day -- Ringling Brothers opened their first circus on this day in 1884

Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day -- Northern Cyprus; Turkey

Emergency Medical Services for Children Day

Frog Jumping Jubilee -- Calaveras County, Texas (through the 22nd)

Greek Genocide Remembrance Day -- Greece

Kirkland's Warbler Day

May Ray Day -- to celebrate being able to go out into the sun's rays as summer nears

National Devil's Food Cake Day

New England's Dark Day

Plant Something Day -- because it's fun, and summer is coming so you can!

St. Dunstan's Day

St. Peter Celestine's Day

St. Pudentiana's Day (patron of Philippines)

Turn Beauty Inside Out Day

World Hepatitis Day


Birthdays Today:

Rachel Appleton, 1992
Jordon Pruitt, 1991
Kevin Garnett, 1976
Kyle Eastwood, 1968
Grace Jones, 1952
Joey Ramone, 1951
Andre the Giant, 1946
Pete Townshend, 1945
Nora Ephron, 1941
James Fox, 1939
Malcolm X, 1925
Ho Chi Minh, 1890
Nancy Astor, 1879
Johns Hopkins, 1762


Today in History:

Jacques Cartier sets sail on his second voyage to North America, 1535
Anne Boleyn is beheaded, 1536
Queen Elizabeth I orders the arrest of Mary, Queen of Scots, 1568
French forces under the duc d'Enghien decisively defeat Spanish forces at the Battle of Rocroi, marking the symbolic end of Spain as a dominant land power, 1643
The Long Parliament declares England a Commonwealth, and England remains a republic for the next 11 years, 1649
King George II of Great Britain grants the Ohio Company a charter of land around the forks of the Ohio River, 1749
A combination of thick smoke and heavy cloud cover causes complete darkness to fall on Eastern Canada and the New England area of the United States at 10:30 A.M, 1780
Napoleon Bonaparte founds the Légion d'Honneur, 1802
Mexico ratifies the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo thus ending the Mexican-American War and ceding California, Nevada, Utah and parts of four other modern-day U.S. states to the United States for $15 million USD, 1848
Jan Matzeliger begins the first mechanized shoe production, 1885
Oscar Wilde is released from Reading Gaol, 1897
White women win the right to vote in South Africa, 1930
Margaret Mitchell's Gone With The Wind is published, 1936
Churchill and Roosevelt set May 1, 1944 as their goal date for D-Day (it had to be delayed over a month because of weather), 1943
The Soviet Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly-by another planet by passing Venus, 1961
Croatians vote for independence, 1991

3 comments:

  1. I'm glad the injury wasn't life-threatening.. and it's a good thing your hubby was there preventing the guy from getting hit again. I hope they find the driver.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sounds like it would be a fine place to have your state safety folks aware of. That is spooky, I am so glad it wasn't any worse than that... Hugs to your Sweetie for being the Good Samaritan and helping out!

    (Oh, and I checked with my Mom, she told me that 2 doctors, my Dad's and a friends, both having gout, had reccommended Black Cherry Juice to drink, for gout. I believe it's available at health food stores, in concentrate.) Hope your life takes a boring turn for a little bit, so to speak!!

    Cat

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hilary, i hope they find that person, too. As overworked as they are, the chances are slim, though.

    Cat, they are aware of it, but this town is so wonky that we have the worst traffic in the country for our size, and infrastructure is so lacking, such things take years to be dealt with, if they ever are at all.

    Thanks for the tip about the cherry juice!

    ReplyDelete

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