I like to be on top.
September 5, 2008 · Print This Article
I hear Tom Petty’s song “American Girl” when I think of a specific day back in September of 1993. I had recently turned sixteen and had just gotten my license. My mom was way to nervous to teach me to drive so I had my learners permit later than most. I learned to drive by taking Drivers Ed. They taught me the ins and outs of yield signs and horror stories about barefoot driving and how it can amputate your toes. I was finally free to move around, get out of the house, and I didn’t need my mom or grandparents to help me do it. FREEDOM…
I was driving my mom’s Ford Bronco II and had just gotten to my friend Pete’s* house. See, his best friend had broken up with me and I was devastated. Granted he was 21 and I was 16 and he was in college, but how dare he do this to me?? I mean, was he going to get back with his ex girlfriend of 2 years? What was going on I HAD TO KNOW! I was going 49mph down a residential Beach Road like a maniac. This was an emergency recon mission.
Pete wasn’t home. Where are people when you need them??? This was an emergency! I am crying and of course there are no cell phones back in the nine three so I am determined to FIND him and find out what is going on. Because *Grant isn’t answering his phone at home and I will not be ignored!
I left his house and decide to go up the side road just to see if he is parked at a local hangout. I am now FLYing.
Since I had a whopping 20 hours of driving under my belt, when I reached the stop sign to make a right to get back on the main road I decided to do a “California Stop/Roll.” From what I understand this means that you kinda sorta stop then when no one is coming you just roll through and keep on going. So, I do this. I slow down, look left, look right and then it happened.
There is a police car coming towards me from my right. He is turning onto the road I am on! This would be the moment when I should slam on brakes and not to get a ticket for not stopping fully at a stop sign. So, being a smart sixteen year old that is what I do.
Oh yeah, the brake is on the left isn’t it?
In the time it took you to read that sentence I had accidentally hit the gas instead of the brake and put my entire Bronco II on top of a City Police Car.
And there it was…
Except my car was actually ON TOP of the entire hood of the police cruiser.
There are always those moments in life where things just change. You find out that the world doesn’t revolve around you and your sad little problems. That was the day for me. I all of a sudden could care less why my boyfriend broke up with me. All I knew was that I was on top of a police cruiser.
I don’t remember much. I know that I wasn’t hurt but I had banged my head on the steering wheel. I couldn’t hear anything. Everything was muffled. Some woman saw what happened came over and tapped on my window.
I was so dazed I just looked at her.
She finally did the universal signal for ROLL DOWN YOUR WINDOW YOU JUST HIT A COP CAR.
She says, “You ok?”
My response “Huh?”
“You ok Sugar?” Pronounced Shooga
“Yeah I think so, Oh My GOD, what happened?”
“Well you ran smack dab into that nice police officer right there…”
At this point I attempt to reach for the door handle. I missed it three times because I was still looking straight ahead. I finally reach it and go to get out (Bronco’s are a little high up) and fell out of the car. My brain forgot to tell my knees to bend or work at all for that matter. I am laying on the hot pavement thinking to myself, I could just stay down here. That would be a good plan. Ok. Going to just stay here.
Eventually Officer Friendly came over (I say this with all respect he was one nice policeman considering all) He was off duty and had his 3 year old daughter in the car with him. I FREAKED OUT and sobbed on the concrete. Which was easy because I was still face down. He said “Noooo sweetie, we are fine!!” I informed him that I was so glad and so sorry and that I was a horrible person who didn’t deserve to have knees or something like that. There was a lot of blithering at that point.
Short story long, I hit a city policeman, so another one came to ticket me and do the paperwork. They couldn’t write the ticket so two county cops came. Nope, they can’t write the ticket either. Some sort of ordinance. So, two troopers came. So, We have one beat up Bronco II, a beat up city police car and a total of 5 more cop cars around lights sirens and all.
When my mom showed up as they towed away our ONLY family vehicle, my grandmother parked them in the parking lot across the street. When she saw how many lights and cops and the cars she opened the passenger side door…
And she fell out of the car.
*Names have been changed to protect future ex husbands. Oh, and no not the boyfriend but the friend I was looking for when I got into the wreck. I married “Pete” 9 years later. One would think that would have been a sign or omen…
This is just one of many fun tales of my youth. What was your right of passage? What incident of your youth made you realize that there is a big bad world out there? Or just feel free to share awkward scary stupid teenage stories…
On 09/5/08 at 4:16 am
ron said:
women drivers
On 09/5/08 at 4:46 am
Sarahh said:
…are the most awesome drivers ever!
*Note out of the 4 accidents I have been in, that was the only one that was my fault. I was so scared to drive after that I didn’t for over a year!
THAT was a scared straight version of drivers ed.
On 09/5/08 at 4:41 am
PrincessQ said:
I remember this story…LOL
The only accident I had was my fender-bender last year that caused MY car to be totaled because I hit a Ford Explorer…How my car got totaled doing 10 mph, I’ll never understand…
On 09/5/08 at 4:47 am
Sarahh said:
And yet, in the accidents I have been in with over 5 grand damage and was hit by these HAUGE vehicles, they never total mine out.
I still feel bad for you for that wreck…
Friggin FORDS!
On 09/5/08 at 5:39 am
Dillon said:
I hate it when I hit the wrong pedal!
I didn’t really know much about the “real world” until my parents got divorced. Though I lived with my dad, he was pretty much doing his own thing, which left me to my own devices. I got a job working at a pizza place when I was 16… I learned more about life there than I had learned in ten years living with my mother.
Some lessons are harder than others, though. Eventually I had to get out of there.
On 09/5/08 at 6:26 am
Sarahh said:
I was a paranoid FREAK about correct pedals for at least 2 years after that.
I think most kids/tweens are so self absorbed because they really don’t realize there is life outside of their world. Until something happens. Car wreck, divorce, tragedy, etc.
I was lucky everyone walked away ok, but still turned my world upside down…
On 09/5/08 at 6:42 am
Carol said:
<—visualizing this story (giggling)
on phone. will think of story to share and return tonight.
On 09/5/08 at 7:23 am
Sarahh said:
It was good times. Not really. There are pictures of it rolling around town. I am yet to see them… Not sure if I want to!
On 09/5/08 at 6:43 am
Karri said:
The current catastrophe would be the coffee that I just spat all over my keyboard! Holy Hell, woman!
One of the pro’s of living out in country was learning to drive before I was a pre-teen. This also meant that I started “borrowing” the car years before I was of legal driving age. Thank gawd nothing ever happened…that was dumb, dumb, dumb!
On 09/5/08 at 7:27 am
Sarahh said:
OH NO! Wasting coffee isn’t an option this morning! hahahahaha…
It was one helluva experience. And I SWEAR that local police avoided me for at least two years after that. I was THAT girl who rolled her car onto a cop car.
I stop completely at all stop signs and have for years. TRUST ME!!
I begged my mom to teach me, but she wasn’t digging it…
On 09/5/08 at 7:02 am
PJ said:
We do not have the space nor time here for me to list even half of the stupid/crazy things I did in my teens. Surprisingly, no bad driving mishaps, plenty of bad driving/driving when I shouldn’t have been, but no police run-ins(in my teens, at least). Have you ever woke up to find yourself at a red light with your foot on the brake?
On 09/5/08 at 9:30 am
Sarahh said:
Wow, no! Was that in your youth or recently??
I have slept in my car though. And not because I was responsible so much, but because I never made it to cranking it before I fell asleep…
Mistaken Youth Moment #445
On 09/5/08 at 1:08 pm
PJ said:
About 12 Years ago or so. I used to do all kinds of crazy things in/on a car when fueled by alcohol. Some of the other jackass moves were Teenwolf surfing, The Great Truck Bed Bar-B-Que, optional stop sign night, and Forest preserve racing. Let’s just say my guardian angel earned his/her money.
On 09/5/08 at 1:18 pm
Meghan said:
Did you dance in your undies and Ray-Bans too? Get stuck with your goon dock friends in a well? Hook up with the basket case in detention?
On 09/5/08 at 1:29 pm
PJ said:
Sometimes you just gotta say “What the fuck” was a very popular expression with me.
Who didn’t snort pixie stix?
After the goonies came out, I went looking for treasure all over the place. Sure I was like Seven or something, but it still was awesome.
On 09/5/08 at 2:59 pm
Sarahh said:
I did too. My first metal detector. I loved the Goonies…
As I just got done watching the Two Coreys…
Mrs. Fertelli would not approve!
On 09/5/08 at 3:29 pm
Meghan said:
Mama Fratelli looked better then than Corey Haim does now! He’s Scurrry!
My bedroom wall of 1987 would like to extend a mighty pimp slap.
On 09/5/08 at 5:08 pm
Trista said:
Did I ever tell you two that Corey Haim asked me out?
Not teenage Corey…Corey about a year or so ago…
Uh huh. Major bragging rights…I gots em.
(that was sarcasm…I know it doesn’t always come across in type and I need it to be clear…)
On 09/5/08 at 5:27 pm
kiki said:
I would say I am jealous and impressed.
Sadly, I am neither.
Now if you’d said Joaquin …. Well I’d have to thank you for turning him down. Cos we all know he’s mine all mine.
On 09/5/08 at 5:43 pm
Meghan said:
Hahahaha…I now have a memory of you typing that you coulda bagged a Lost Boy!
On 09/6/08 at 7:20 am
Sarahh said:
Yeah, I watched the *Trainwreck* season ender of the two Coreys. I have to say I am impressed. I would have gone on one date.
Just to see…
But I am a tourist like that.
And I had a major crush during “Dream a little dream” days…
On 09/5/08 at 7:09 am
pecosa said:
OMG! I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry! My first accident was when I was 16, I was changing lanes and looking for a CD…next thing I know I had scraped the fender of a brand new truck. Nothing happened to it nor to my truck but the guy called the cops anyway. Asshole.
On 09/5/08 at 7:19 am
PJ said:
Which CD?
On 09/5/08 at 7:26 am
pecosa said:
Dr. Dre 2001
On 09/5/08 at 9:49 am
Sarahh said:
Pecosa, I commented on your comment but somehow decided to make it a new thread.
I am now contemplating where I can get more coffee at 2pm.
Why did he call the cops??? R-U-D-E.
I rearended a lady once, no damage, and we didnt call the cops. She worked for “Value Jet” they went under about 4 days later…
I have nothing if not timing.
On 09/5/08 at 7:33 am
Jime said:
Haaaa, great story, that’s awesome.
Oh, and thanks a bundle of joy for giving me a new fear of driving barefoot. I appreciate that. Really.
.
No, not really.
On 09/5/08 at 8:43 am
kiki said:
Yeah I drive barefoot too. Now I’m picturing missing toes. I don’t know what I’m going to do in winter as I love driving barefoot!
On 09/5/08 at 9:39 am
Sarahh said:
Sorry, there were these video’s. Not the horror one’s you see about blood everywhere, etc. But the one thing that stuck with me was the policeman who spoke one day during drivers ed.
He said, make sure you drive with shoes because I pulled a guy otta a car and…
Well, you get the rest.
I don’t ever drive barefoot because of it. Ever!
On 09/5/08 at 9:52 am
Jime said:
Wow. Those poor lil piggies. This one went to the market, and all those other ones got lopped in half on the way.
On 09/5/08 at 10:33 am
Sarahh said:
Hahaha, I was just thinking, that IS NOT the way to learn how to subtract!
They did show pictures of the guys foot. *Shudder*
I remember thinking “Is this the MOST pressing issue regarding teen driving safety? Being BAREFOOT?”
They now have an entire day dedicated to “The Rolling Stop”
They call it SARAH DAY
On 09/5/08 at 7:37 am
Sarahh said:
Forget about Dre was my favorite song for the longest time!!!
Sorry to hear about your accident though! I did something similar with a hardees cup they forgot to give me a straw for. I looked down to fix the lid looked up and I was sideways on I-95.
I am so lucky I didn’t hurt me or anyone else between the ages of 16-18!
On 09/5/08 at 7:43 am
Jime said:
Is it just me, or does anybody else get that tiny flare of panicked embarrassment when they accidentally post a new thread instead of nesting their comment? For about 2 second I think: “Awww shit–I done fuckied that up.”
And yes, I meant to spell it: fuckied. I become fond of saying “fuckied” in the last five minutes or so.
On 09/5/08 at 9:31 am
Sarahh said:
Hahaha, that JUST happened. I thought, where did my response go?? Yeah, there it is. It is a new thread!
I totally meant to do that…
And I am taking fuckied. Good word!
On 09/5/08 at 7:58 am
Trista said:
My very first accident found me doing a 360 on the freeway and getting hit by a Honda which would not have been so bad except that the Honda got hit by a motor home.
That sucked. My car was totaled.
I am pretty sure my dad never forgave me.
On 09/5/08 at 9:40 am
Sarahh said:
That sounds really scary. I did a 360, several actually, in the median on I-95 after being sideways, it was icky, but no crash. AMAZINGLY enough. I was able to pull the emergency brake before I was thrown into oncoming traffic…
And I am sorry, did you say the Honda was hit by a motor home?
On 09/5/08 at 9:55 am
Jime said:
Yeah, sucks to be the Honda in that scenario. There was probably nothing but a bunch of plastic bits left…those cars are made of legos aren’t they?
On 09/5/08 at 10:07 am
Sarahh said:
I was rear ended once by a Geo and his bumper was filled with Styrofoam.
I kid you not.
On 09/5/08 at 10:08 am
Jime said:
They totally make those cars from discarded packaging supplies.
On 09/5/08 at 10:45 am
Sarahh said:
I want my car to fill up with foam like in that Sylvester Stallone/Sandra Bullock movie about the future. Title escapes me…
THAT wasn’t a bad idea. Except the, not breathing in foam part.
On 09/5/08 at 10:56 am
Jime said:
Haha, Demolition Man. I liked when Benjamin Bratt got all excited about singing those jingle commercials which was their version of music in the future.
Beside the whole suffocation part–that’d be a bugger to clean out of the carpets. But on the plus side: I bet a lot less accidents would happen if people were afraid of looking like they just killed the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man afterwards.
On 09/5/08 at 11:21 am
Sarahh said:
Hells Bells you are right! He was SO young! I have a bit of a crush on the Bratt since I started watching The Cleaner. He is hawtness…
Demolition Man. When fine dining meant Taco Bell. If that is wrong then I don’t wanna be wrong.
Ick.
On 09/5/08 at 11:29 am
Trista said:
I still don’t understand the bit with the sea shells…
On 09/5/08 at 11:48 am
Jime said:
You don’t get the sea-shells? HAHAhahahaa, she doesn’t get the sea-shells.
The Cleaner is a pretty cool show so far. I think it will need more of a through-line though if it’s going to survive. It needs an element that ties each episode together, and Bratts troubles with relating to his family might not be strong enough.
On 09/5/08 at 1:27 pm
Sarahh said:
I agree. It will take them through the first season but there has to be some sort of hook to help us want to see a 2nd.
On 09/5/08 at 8:04 am
Bud Moeller said:
Remind me to drive if we’re ever going out somewhere.
xoxo
On 09/5/08 at 9:43 am
Sarahh said:
Hahaha, you are the race car driver. OF COURSE you can drive!
YAY, Bud is here! Thanks so much for stopping by!!
On 09/5/08 at 8:06 am
WickedCourtni said:
HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!
On 09/5/08 at 10:45 am
Sarahh said:
I know right. WHO DOES THAT???
:))
On 09/5/08 at 12:16 pm
WickedCourtni said:
you have no idea the stories.
On 09/5/08 at 8:10 am
Svaha said:
My oldest had just registered her first car 45 minutes before driving it into the back of a dump truck. Totaled.
Some 16 year old pulled an almost-Sarah and drove straight through the stop sign, taking the front end off of her second car. Totaled.
Some lady randomly stops in the road after going through a yield. My daughter, going 15mph, rear ends her. Absolutely no damage to the ladies car. My daughters car - totaled.
Her fourth car was a Piece-O-ShitBox that leaked rain everywhere, then the hood wouldn’t open, then the drivers door window fell into the door never to be seen again. She managed to get rid of that one before it totaled her and is now on car 5 in four years.
On 09/5/08 at 10:10 am
Sarahh said:
Oh My Gawd! That is crazy! It is really dangerous out there, when my little one drives (Less than 8 years) I will be a wreck.
There isn’t a large enough Rx for xanax that could calm down that fear…
I have been in 6-7 accidents, fender benders, etc. They are no fun, and I seem to be a large target for them… Twice in 3 years rear-ended AGAIN and shoved into the car in front of me. Hit while stopped each time.
Never buy a white car. Clearly it is invisible..
I hope your oldest’s car luck changes!!
On 09/5/08 at 10:53 am
Svaha said:
I’ve been in a LOT of accidents: fender benders (some my fault), winter weather crashes, roll overs (just a passenger on that fun ride), guard rails, a tree (trees can move quicker than people think, don’t let anyone tell you different), a house (hit some ice and punched a nice hole in a friends wall with my Bronco), a pedestrian (totally his fault, dumbass college kids), and a few motorcycle accidents, one where I totaled the bike and got banged up pretty bad.
But I worry about my youngest the most. When she was little she used to yell from her car seat “Go faster daddy, go the WHOLE speed limit!”
On 09/5/08 at 11:22 am
Sarahh said:
My 6 year old has been telling me to go the speed limit since he could read the numbers on the sign.
“Um Mommy, the sign says 45. You are going between the 45 and the 50!!!!!!”
“Yeah, Um little person that I created and got fat to bear, I think I have the driving thing handled. Thanks though.”
Maybe I will get lucky and he will stay out of Formula One!!!
On 09/5/08 at 8:23 am
Kenna-Joy said:
Haha…I am still snorting!!
Question…Did you REALLY call him “Officer Friendly” cause he was nice? Hehe…now days, the new “Officer Friendly” seems to like the young girls a little too much! I’m just sayin’…
Oh, and look on the bright side, *Pete gave you the best part of him…at least he was good for something since he wasn’t there when you needed him on that day…some things never change!!
You crack me up!!
On 09/5/08 at 10:11 am
Sarahh said:
Not that day. I know his name. He is now with the county. That is how I know there are pictures still out there. He showed them to someone I know less than 2 years ago!!!!
Gotta love small towns. Where you can’t flee your past so you go out and have drinks with it…
Yeah, I still don’t know where he was that day. I am going to call him now and ASK HIM!
On 09/5/08 at 8:35 am
Jacqueline said:
Rite of Passage: when I scared a kind lovely neighbor so bad the day BEFORE Halloween (we draw a curtain over the details but it involved a mask and a real knife,. I can’t say right now why I thought this would be funny…) that she a) damn near had a coronary b) viewed me as a total head case from then on.
On 09/5/08 at 10:13 am
Sarahh said:
It is amazing what we find funny or smart back then. I look back now at some decisions, actions, pranks, just about everything and wonder…
How DID I survive???
I bet she kept her curtains closed after that one!! Yikes! Hell, out of boredom at 15 we all trick or treated… No ginsu knives were present though. That I know of anyway.
On 09/5/08 at 8:39 am
kiki said:
The timing on this is great! I had my first ever accident as a new driver yesterday. Some fuckwit cut off the car in front of me, who braked sharply, I was rolling along at about 10mph and bounced off her bumper. No real damage apart from a bent numberplate (mine) and dented pride (also mine)
But I was in a doozy of an accident 20yrs or so ago. Our car slid on black ice down an embankment onto a highway of cars doing 80mph. Our car was struck at least 7 times, upside down. And we had to be cut out. The first cop on the scene thought he’d be doing a body count. Miraculously we all got out alive, with minor injuries. But the overriding memory of this accident is the eery silence as we rolled over and over onto the highway, and as the cars hit us. I couldn’t hear or feel a thing. Bizarre.
On 09/5/08 at 10:37 am
Sarahh said:
That accident sounds so frightening. I am glad you guys made it ok! You all were so lucky…
Funny you mention the sound, or lack there off as a strong memory.
I remember VIVIDLY the VRRRROOOOOOOOOOM sound my car made when I accelerated. I don’t remember impact, just the noise the car made when I hit the gas THAT hard.
*Shudder*
On 09/5/08 at 11:12 am
kiki said:
I know. The whole lack of sound thing was weird. I felt strangely calm and everything seemed so slow. It was only when the firemen were using the jaws of life on my door that everything suddenly went back to “normal”! That was a horrid sound. But we were all so lucky to get out alive. We all had cuts and bruises, and me and my stepsister had to go on backboards. We went to see the car a week later, as we were in a news report about lucky escapes. It was a BMW 7 series. After the crash the car was about the size of a Smart car. Very scary to see it. In fact I think THAT scared me more than the accident!
On 09/5/08 at 11:26 am
Sarahh said:
Clearly that was way more massive than me playing leap frog with a Ford Cruiser…
I can’t even imagine.
I once over corrected on a highway, went sideways, over corrected again, skidded, landed in the median. Did around 4 360’s, then began to skid backwards into oncoming traffic. Going about 70mph…
Before I got through the emergency lane I hit the emergency brake.
I don’t think I have ever been as scared as I was when that happened. We had just passed about 15 cars and if we hadn’t that mishap wouldn’t have had a good ending…
Not a scratch on the car… A guy who watched it pulled over to see if I was ok and said, I STILL can’t believe what I just saw and that you didn’t flip your car.
Wow, after this post NO ONE will ever drive with me again! Hahahaha
Seeing what happens to cars that are in accidents I don’t have anything to do with Scares the hell out of me. Shows how fragile it all is…
On 09/5/08 at 8:42 am
Fiona said:
*sigh* My first accident ever was when a kid on a bike rode in front of my car. He was fine, the car was fine, but it made me panicky.
My second? Last weekend, when I fell asleep at the wheel and my car decided to try and pick up a pole, I was about 25 ft from home. *bigger sigh* This one’s costing me 6k.
On 09/5/08 at 8:51 am
Svaha said:
Isn’t everything 25ft from your house on that little rock in the middle of the ocean?
On 09/5/08 at 9:07 am
Fiona said:
Smart ass. No, but everything is no more than 21 miles away.
On 09/5/08 at 10:40 am
Sarahh said:
That was the biggest problem with the accident I talked about.
The fear I had about driving and how it made me a HORRIBLE driver after that. I was jumpy. Jumpy drivers are dangerous. And I almost flat out refused to drive after that. Scared the Bronco right out of me.
My last 2 accidents the damage was over 5500. And trust me my car isn’t worth 11000 bucks…
Are you ok after hitting that pole???
On 09/5/08 at 11:25 am
Fiona said:
Not a scratch. I wasn’t going very fast and it more scraped the pole that hit it head on, but cars now are made to crumple and tear away to absorb impact. Goooodddddddd byyyyeeeeeeeee left fender. *sniffle* The car is worth the repairs, a few months ago I treated myself to a 4 year old car. Oy vey.
Jumpy drivers ARE dangerous, then again, you have to go back at it to over come the fear.