Car Accident in Heavy Snow
When I was 5th grade in the elementary school, my family was living in the United States of America. We lived in Boulder, Colorado. And when the winter vacation started, my family went on a vacation to the south-west region of the US by car. We toured lots of cities like Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Francisco, etc. and lots of attractions like Grand Canyon and Salt Lake. We really had a great time for about two weeks. When the time came to return home, my parents woke me and my younger sister up very early in the morning. "Wake up. We have to leave here early so that we could reach Boulder tonight. It will be a long journey from here," dad said. So my family ate breakfast really fast and hurried our way back home on the highway. When the evening came, we were on the left side of the Rocky Mountains but still had to cross such a high mountains. And while going across the mountains, my family had a terrible car accident.
The weather seemed to be very bad. It started to snow and became very heavy as the night came. Mom seemed to be worried because the highway was very steep and slippery. "It's snowing too much. Let's find an inn and return home tomorrow. It's too dangerous." But he said, "But our kid's second semester starts tomorrow. They have to go to school." Mom tried to persuade dad that safety should be more important, but dad didn't agree.
Dad drove the car up to the top of the mountains. And after we reached the continental divide, we started to go downhill. But it was more dangerous than going up because the car could easily slip forward. "I've got to step on the brake pedal carefully," dad said. There were no guardrails beside the highways but just dangerous cliffs. I broke out into a cold sweat. The outside of the car was full of darkness with heavy snowing. Snow on the road piled heavily that I couldn't even recognize the boundary of the highway and cliff.
Just then, "Be careful!" Mom shouted. Our car slipped and became out of control to the right side of the highway. But fortunately, there was some space where we slipped to, similar space like the shoulder of the road. Anyway, we could avoid falling down the cliff, but became stuck in snow. "Ah, the wheels can't get traction in such a deep snowbound," dad said. But until then, although he seemed a little disappointed, nothing seemed dangerous. "Don't worry, kids. I'll go out for a short time to see our situation more in detail," dad said. And he went out the car and wondered around to see exactly about our situation. After that, he opened the door and tried to come in. "Hey, th……"
Suddenly, a car crashed into the side of our car. The door beside the driver's seat was torn off and Dad was bleeding in his left hand. "Are you alright?" my sister cried. But though he was bleeding, he tried to relieve us. "I'm OK. I'm OK." After he tried to relieve us who were shocked by that accident, he patiently called the 911 and tow truck. "I will go to the hospital alone. You take our kids home and take a rest," dad said to mom. "OK. Take care of yourself. I'll go to the hospital after I take our kids home," mom said. We took a seat in the tow truck and our broken car was pulled behind.
It was a short and terrible accident, but I've got some lesson from it. I never doubted that my parents would be with me forever. After the accident and critical situation that might make me lose someone in family, I realized the importance of my family. And I was very surprised that dad was so patient with the sense of responsibility for family. I became more respectful to my dad.
What I like about this piece of writing is that you described every details of the situation/happening so minutely so that readers including me could estimate and in some levels understand how exactly situation was. Inmost lines and parts were well vivid and your main point seems to be your recognition of buried things that aren't easily to be found in our everyday lives such as the importance of your family etc... It's just that I somehow got a feeling that the story came to an abrupt end and if you anyhow disentangle the last part a bit more, it might be an unexpected improvement for your writing. I'm truly relieved by the fact that the situation didn't get any worse. Happy new year to you and your family!
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201102327 Kwang-Jin Lee
Have you ever experienced a car accident? It always occurs in the twinkling of an eye. And all the results of the accident are decided in such a short time. It can be a total disaster but still, fortune can hide in that misfortune.
When I was 5th grade in the elementary school, my family lived in Boulder, Colorado. As the winter vacation started, my family went on a vacation to the south-west region of the US by car. We toured lots of cities and attractions for about two weeks and soon the day to return came.
My parents woke me and my younger sister up very early in the morning. “Wake up,” dad said. “We have to leave here early so that we can reach Boulder tonight. It will be a long journey from here.” My family ate breakfast really fast and hurried our way back home on the highway. It was quite a long distance that we had to spend all day in our car returning home.
When the evening came, we were on the left side of the Rocky Mountains but still had to cross such a high mountains. While going across the mountains, it started to snow and became very heavy as the night came. Soon, our visions were limited to nearly 3~4 meters and the entire world seem to be just white. Also, the highway was so steep and slippery that every car on the road including ours was driven very slowly.
Mom seemed to be worried. “It’s snowing too much,” mom said. “Let’s find an inn and return home tomorrow. It’s too dangerous.” But my dad said, “Our kids’ second semester starts tomorrow. They have to go to school.”
Mom tried to persuade dad that safety is more important, but dad didn’t agree. Dad drove the car up to the top of the mountains. After we reached the continental divide, we started to go downhill. But it was more dangerous to go down than to go up because the car could easily slip forward.
“I’ve got to step on the brake pedal carefully,” dad said. There were no guardrails beside the highways but just dangerous cliffs. I was so nervous that I fastened a seat belt which I had ignored before. Outside of the car was full of darkness with heavy snowing. Snow on the road piled heavily that I couldn’t even recognize the boundary of the highway and cliff.
“Be careful!” mom shouted. All of a sudden, our car slipped and became out of control. We were all stunned thinking that we might fall down to cliff, but fortunately, there was some space where we slipped to, similar space like shoulder of the road. As a result, we could avoid falling down the cliff, but became stuck in snow on the right side of the road.
ReplyDelete“Ah, our car got stuck in such a deep snowbound,” dad said. But until then, although he seemed a little disappointed about this situation, nothing seemed dangerous. “Don’t worry, kids,” dad said. “I’ll go out for a short time to see our situation more in detail.” He went out and wondered around. After that, he opened the door and tried to come in. “Hey, th……”
“Smack!” In an instant, a car which was passing by slipped and crashed into the side of our car. “Ah!” my sister cried out. I was so horrified that I couldn’t even scream. The door beside the driver’s seat was torn off and Dad was bleeding in his left hand.
“Are you alright?” my sister cried. But though he was bleeding, what he tried to do was to relieve us. “I’m OK. I’m OK,” he said.
Luckily, no one was seriously injured. Because the car crashed to side of the front wheel, dad wasn’t directly hit by the car. He was bleeding just because he got a cut in his finger when the door was tearing off. And other people including me were totally safe. It was just a miracle to be completely safe even if our car was hit so hard!
After dad calmed us down, he patiently called the 911 and tow truck. “I’ll go to the hospital alone,” dad said to mom. “You take our kids home and take some rest.”
“OK. Take care,” mom said. “I’ll go to you after I take our kids home.” After about an hour, an emergency car and a tow truck came. Dad, still bleeding, left first with the emergency car. I took a seat in the tow truck with my sister and mom, and our broken car was pulled behind.
It was sudden and terrible accident, but I think we
were quite lucky. Right side of our car located an endless cliff and if our car was hit squarely from the left side, we might have been pushed to the cliff. Then, I would not be able to write about this experience right now.
I’ve got some lesson from it. I never doubted that my parents would be with me forever. But after the accident and critical situation that might make me lose someone in family, I realized the importance of my dad, mom and my sister.
And I was very impressed to my dad that he was so patient while he was hurt and bleeding. He cared for us more than himself with the sense of responsibility for family. I became more respectful to my dad.