MY MIRACULOUS SURVIVAL OF A CAR ACCIDENT

‘Miracle’
It would actually constitute more than a miracle. It would take divine intervention plus luck, plus some unknown element of cosmic wizardry.

David Baldacci, The Whole Truth

14:33 – the time displayed under the music system as we made return journey to Nairobi. I was travelling with a friend who drove his Toyota SURF – a new safari-suited vehicle he was so proud to have been the owner of. I was settled into the seat next to him where I lay content with the seatbelt tucked in well. I was content that our journey to Aberdare’s steep forested ravines and open moorland had been exceptionally fun with 23 elephants, numerous Cape Buffaloes and over 40 giant forest hogs sighted.

Along Limuru Highway, just about 45 minutes to Nairobi, traffic moved slowly. “It’s not usual for traffic to build up around this time” – no longer was I talking this to myself that our car came to halt behind a white hatchback. Within no time cars stacked up in the two-lane Highway and all drivers’ eyes set in their front wondering if or when cars will move forward.

Right the next moment everything and every bit of my beautiful thoughts changed. I suddenly felt myself swayed forward like I was on a swing and somebody from behind gave me a violent push. My hands did not find a proper grip but I was being pulled back by the seatbelt and for that one moment everything turned pitch dark around me. Fear snaked around my heart and I almost tended to faint as I adjusted to that moment of darkness. When I got rid of the darkness, to my right side I saw a big “Matatu” (a local bus) hit on the back of the white hatchback that was in front of our car a few moments ago. The Matatu slammered the back of that car like a lion charges on its prey while the small white car groaned like a wounded beast, shuddered and its bonnet plunged into the underneath of the lorry like another hungry lion wanted to eat the prey down from its head. The lorry did not budge though. The car’s windscreen imploded, showering the slivers of glass all over. Both its dashboard and boot compacted into one mangled mess in no time.

Our car had been knocked out to another lane and hit another black Toyota Noah, smashing its taillights; from it fell down some shiny pieces of red glasses. The Toyota Noah – an eight seater - then went to hit another white Corolla with four people inside it. The rear-end shunt created a sort of ripple on the road that travelled a distance and fell silent when exhausted of all energy. Inside our car, the music system that played beautiful Sting songs just a while ago, had come off, dust from it sprayed all over me and some settled on my black trouser. I heard only a symphony of grinding and a chorus of popping. I tried to recover some mind, strength and stepped out to see the state of our car.

The back of the 4^th generation Toyota SURF had become nothing more than a sort of crumpled cloth piece pulled out of a washing machine. The Matatu had hit our car first – forcing it to absorb almost 90% of the impact – a gruesome stroke of a four-ton Matatu! Luckily enough, it had only managed to hit the rear side where the spare wheel rested; that caused to knock off the car outward to another lane. But the impact was so powerful that it ripped off the tyre, pierced central disc and its metal rim was left fractured. The rear window glass frames appeared nothing stronger than a spider web and black shards of the glass littered all over the road as if black bean had spilled from a bottle. The impact forced the boot to go to reach almost the rear seats, which exposed bags and every other items inside the car. In the front of the car, half of its bonnet had torn off – its wound open and displayed a fresh but sad deep monotonous scratch painted on it; fenders and headlight hanged from the side.

Wedged between the Matatu and another Toyota car, the aftereffects of our car wreck looked serious. At that scene, my both hands trembled over my mouth; my eyes became glossy and watered slightly for a moment but I swallowed it back. Just the time I thought how difficult it is to swallow back your own tears, more so when it has already reached the rims of eyes.

I experienced the scariest moment in my life. I could never fancy how ten seconds of life could change a person's view on the whole existence. I was only thankful to the Divine, to the God – and for that moment onwards I started to believe there is God or a cosmic wizard that showers blessings on you.

 

I sustained not a single bruise and nobody in those seven cars involved were hurt badly in the accident but the experience of that moment has left an indelible imprint in my mind. All those events come running to me every night and every time I drive out on roads. The scene, feeling and memory will probably never fade away!