ANSBACH, Germany (April 8, 2014) -- Time does not slow down. The auto accident felt exactly like it was … sudden, swift and brutal.
My reactions must have been quicker than my experience, however. I had turned to the left to either avoid or ameliorate the impact with the other vehicle as it entered the priority road from a side road. Because of this split-second move, my compact smashed its front passenger corner against the other vehicle, which spun the back passenger end of my car into the vehicle before the impact knocked both our vehicles off the road.
Smoke rose from the driver's side airbag. Glass from the rear window had spilled itself into the cabin. My view out the windshield was of a weedy embankment somewhere between the two kasernes I had been traveling between.
None of the pain I felt was excruciating. I stepped out of the car. I was sore and a little dazed. My back and hips hurt from the shock of the impact, but not so much that I could not walk.
My front bumper lay in a side street the other vehicle was originally driving into. A part of the strut had sprung into a ditch. Scraps of glass and metal from my car had been strewn liberally over the intersection.
German citizens working or living close by began rushing toward the accident.
Upon reconstructing my state of mind during the actual impacts -- initial contact, sidelong smash, sudden stop into an embankment -- my head was ablaze in a surge of shock, fear and anger. Underneath this flush of animal emotion, however, there was one tiny panicked thought: "This might throw off the rest of my day."
CALLS AND ASSISTANCE
As the several local nationals approached to render aid, I brought out the best German I could muster with my current clarity of mind.
"Entshuldigung, aber meine Deutsch ist nicht zu gut," I said, which effectively excused me from trying too hard to carry on a conversation while I set out a warning triangle from my emergency bag.
I checked my cellphone, which still worked, and called a coworker, Stephen Baack, to let him know that a.) I had been in an accident and b.) I probably wouldn't make it to my assigned location. Wisely, he offered c.) to come out to the accident and help if he could.
Our offices weren't too far away and he was there in a matter of minutes.
Stephen parked a moderate distance away from the accident so as not to cause a secondary accident. As to my car, I took a photo of the bumper in the road with my cellphone and then moved the bumper off the road so as not to obstruct traffic. Neither of the accident vehicles obstructed traffic as both had left the road during the impact.
While the local nationals called the Polizei, I asked Stephen to call our military police while I got on the phone with my insurance company.
Any garrison community member -- Soldier, civilian, Family member -- should call the military police in case of an accident, whether on or off post. The MPs, much like any other police force, are open for business 24 hours a day, and they are more than happy to assist.
Besides this, notifying the MPs is a legal requirement. Not notifying them within 72 hours can mean you are titled with either "failure to report a traffic accident" or "fleeing the scene of a traffic accident." Furthermore, companies that insure American motorists working for the Department of Defense typically require the MP report before processing a claim.
Locally, the numbers to the MPs are 0980-283-114 for the Ansbach area and 0984-183-114 for the Illesheim area. For any emergency in Germany, dial 112 from any phone. For the German Polizei, dial 110. Preprogramming these numbers can save time and unnecessary and costly mental exertion in the heat of the moment. Find all emergency USAG Ansbach emergency numbers at www.ansbach.army.mil/documents/EmergencyPhoneNumbers.pdf or in the "Related Links" section to the right. In case the phone does not work, and in case your memory is jarred by the accident, it is worthwhile to have this document printed out.
While I was on the phone with my insurance company reporting the accident and getting a tow truck arranged to haul away the wreckage that used to be my car, the MPs had arrived and had begun coordinating with the local Polizei. The German Polizei handed me a form they had filled out on the accident. The MPs gave me some documents to look over, confirm and sign.
An ambulance had also arrived. The driver and the passenger of the other vehicle were being taken away. The MPs and the Polizei asked whether I needed to go to the hospital. I said I should get checked out, but whatever wounds I had sustained were not life-threatening and I was still mobile, despite my stiffness and soreness.
The MPs wanted to debrief me after the accident, which is standard procedure, but they wanted to make sure I received medical treatment first.
After the tow truck arrived and cranked the bulk of my vehicle up into its flatbed and swept the remainder into a dustbin, Stephen drove me to the on-post clinic.
ACHES AND PAINS
It was February, and the 2014 Winter Olympics out of Sochi, Russia, were on in the clinic's waiting room. After I had spoken to the receptionist, I divided my attention between watching curling and notifying loved ones in the U.S. that I had been in an accident but was fine.
After I got called from the waiting room, the medic made a cursory examination, attempting to determine whether I had been the victim of shock. I wasn't. The doctor saw me not too long afterward, asked a few questions concerning the level of pain I was feeling, prescribed some anti-inflammatory medication, and ensured there was nothing wrong with my hips, ribs, back or shoulders, where most of my pain was due to seatbelt placement.
Likely I would have been fine attending a German hospital or clinic, but having on hand an English-speaking staff seemed preferable to me at the time. I had already been through the Army clinic on another matter, knew they had all my information, and knew getting checked out would not require registration.
That said, the Ansbach home page has listed under "Medical Clinics and Medical Services" in its directory a list of area hospitals, their contact information and directions to get there as well as a host-nation health care guide published by the Europe Region Medical Command. Links to both of these can be found in the "Related Links" section above.
Medical emergencies can happen at any moment to any human being. While fit and healthy, it is a good idea to examine these resources at our homepage before they are truly needed.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
As directed by the military police at the scene of the accident, Stephen drove me to the provost marshal's office following my medical examination. After a little waiting, I was seen by an MP, who asked me questions, which she wrote down on the report. I wrote the answers down and initialed my statements.
This process went quickly and, aside from the persistent ache in my shoulder and hips, painlessly. When answering the questions, I wrote down full narratives of what had happened, including a few standard questions such as whether I had been wearing my seatbelt or not during the accident, whether I had been speeding, so forth.
The provost marshal's office logs the case, and, if I'm interested, I can request a copy of the report a week later.
AFTER-ACCIDENT REVIEW
In the comfort of retrospect, I see that despite the loss of a dependable automobile the accident was not eschatological, cataclysmic, tragic nor any other hyperbole. It was merely a thing that happened.
Since the accident, I have been coordinating with my insurance company, a third-party law firm, vehicle registration, an auto dealership for a new car, and my bank to pay off the old loan and begin a new one. All this combined has been a mild headache despite the relative smoothness with which the coordination has gone. In regard to this, it is always a good idea to keep all your documents handy in case they are ever called upon.
Without always actively thinking about it, I had in place a lot of things that I needed in case of an accident. Although I personally did not have the military police's number preprogrammed into my phone, I did have it memorized. Now, realizing the necessity of having it, I have a copy of the emergency numbers in my phone and printed out in my car.
In case of an accident of this nature, where a car is totaled, it is exceptionally important to have a friend to call to help out.
It's also a good idea to have a list of local hospitals, their contact information and their numbers on hand. I did not have that then, but I have that now. Not all accidents and illnesses occur during duty hours, so even if the Army is a preferred medical provider, having other options open and easily accessible is crucial in the heat of the moment.
The inopportune, the absurd, the accidental and the improbable wait in the periphery of our existence, ready at any moment to thwart the comfortable regularity with which we conduct our lives. The best that we can do is have an emergency plan in place -- even if this is something as simple as a printout of convenient contacts -- and do our best to manage in the wake of the random.
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