Teen driver blew through a gap in traffic and T-boned us at highway speed — what now?
Still kind of in shock writing this. It's been about five days and I'm only now able to sit at a keyboard long enough to type this out.
My husband and I were heading back from a hardware run last Saturday afternoon. We were on a four-lane divided road — speed limit 55 — moving at a normal clip in the left lane. Out of nowhere the SUV ahead of us in the right lane hard-braked. Half a second later I saw why: a small sedan had shot out from a side street trying to cross all four lanes to turn left. Zero warning. My husband locked up the brakes but we were way too close.
The impact was brutal. Airbags went off, the whole cabin filled with that powder, and I honestly couldn't figure out which way was up for a few seconds. My husband was conscious but his right shoulder was screaming — he could barely lift his arm. My knee had slammed into the dash and was already swelling through my jeans.
The driver who hit us? A 16-year-old. Alone in the car. I don't even think I was angry at first — just… stunned.
Ambulance took us both. Husband has a partial rotator cuff tear, I've got a bone bruise on my patella and some soft tissue stuff in my lower back that they're still evaluating. Both of us are out of work — he's a contractor, I'm on my feet all day in retail. This is already a financial nightmare on top of everything else.
A bystander told police he saw the whole thing and offered his dashcam footage. That feels like the one lucky break in all of this.
Insurance has already called twice and I haven't picked up. Wasn't sure if I should. Can someone who's been through this tell me what the first few weeks actually look like? Are we supposed to just wait? Do we need a lawyer immediately? I feel completely lost.