911 Emergency

I don't think I have ever called 911 to report an emergency. With the advent of cell phones, it's not a surprise that I had to call 911 two days ago.

Just this past Thursday, I took the bus after work to meet my brothers at the laundromat. While on the bus, I was playing sudoku on my phone. I started hearing gasps and several women stating, "Oh my gosh." I looked up just in time to see an SUV hit a van. The impact was so great that the van flipped right over onto its roof. The other bus riders were already commenting on how the van, as it landed, nearly missed a biker on the sidewalk.

I stopped playing sudoku, got out of the game, and called 911. I'm sure there may have been others who already called, but just in case there weren't, I wanted to report it. My conversation was brief and the operator was quite helpful. He informed me that help was already on its way.

As I hung up, the bus was abuzz with talk about the accident. From what I gathered, the van ran the red light and crossed into the intersection. The bus driver saw that the van, which going north while the bus and SUV were going east, was running the red light and opted not to go forward. She stated that had she gone forward, it would have been the bus (and not the SUV) crashing into the van. For whatever reason, she said, the SUV did not wait like she did (yes, even though the bus and SUV had the right of way).

I guess there is always a first time for everything, including making a 911 emergency call. Of course, it helps to have a charged working cell phone on hand when the emergency occurs.