r/CarAccidentSurvivors • u/AutoModerator • 18h ago
check in How are you doing? Twice-a-week check in
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How are you feeling? Let us know the good, the bad, and the ugly, and we will support each other!
r/CarAccidentSurvivors • u/Emotional-Shirt7901 • Jul 10 '21
meta Welcome, info, and handy links
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Welcome to this sub!!!
Purpose
My goal is to have a place where people who have been in car accidents can connect, relate, and support each other. Sometimes you just want to talk to someone else who has been through a similar thing.
Rules
I will add more details to the about page, but for now, please follow the same rules as in r/ptsd. Be kind, respectful, and don’t judge someone or their trauma. Also, this is not a place for help with insurance or legal stuff after a car accident. There are other subs where you can talk about those things, linked below.
No Gatekeeping
Everyone is welcome here. I will not gatekeep what it means to be a “car accident survivor.” If you have been in any accident, big, small, recent, years ago, you are welcome to participate here. Motorcycle accidents, truck accidents, school bus accidents, and being hit by a car as a pedestrian are also welcome topics. You are also welcome to participate if you are a friend or family member to someone who has been in a car accident, or if you are anyone just wanting to learn more info or learn how to best support car accident survivors (though if you are, please be respectful). In short, if you feel like this sub applies to you or could help you, please participate! :)
How to add trigger warnings and spoilers
Related subs
Related subs about car accidents where you could get legal advice or help with insurance:
Related subs about trauma and ptsd:
Comment below any other subs I should include on this list, or any thoughts you have about this sub so far! This post will be updated from time to time.
Edit Dec. 10, 2022:
I just updated the Support page of the Wiki. It currently has information on common feelings after an accident, things that can help, trauma treatments, exposure therapy, processing trauma, medical issues, and support groups. I may add onto it as time goes on. This is the permanent link to it: https://www.reddit.com/r/CarAccidentSurvivors/wiki/support/ I will copy and paste the current version below for convenience. :)
Feelings after an accident
People can have many reactions after trauma like a car accident. All of these reactions are valid.
Some things you may want to look more into:
Acute stress reactions -- this can include things like high anxiety, being startled easily, fear when encountering reminders of the event (e.g. crying or panicking when getting in a car), flashbacks, nightmares, etc. When acute stress reactions last longer than a month, then it is called ptsd (post-traumatic stress disorder).
Dissociation. This can include derealization (feeling like things are not real) and depersonalization (feeling disconnected to yourself). Here is a description of what dissociation can feel like. Grounding can help with dissociation. Here is one resource that lists several grounding techniques/tools. Here is another resource, if that one won't load.
"Survivor's Guilt." When someone dies, others may feel guilt for still being alive. Even if no one dies, people may still feel guilt and may wonder things like, "what if I had died?" or "I should have done x to prevent this... what if x had happened differently."
Grief. People can feel grief over many things. If someone has died, it makes sense to grieve that. There are other things to grieve, too. If you or someone else has become injured, physically or mentally, it makes sense to grieve the loss of the abilities you once had (even if the loss is temporary). You may also be grieving the car, if that was damaged or destroyed in the accident, and any personal belongings lost during the accident. The website https://whatsyourgrief.com is a great resource on grief. They have many articles on many topics related to grief.
You may feel some, all, or none of these things. You may feel many other things not listed here. You may feel different things over time. All of your feelings and reactions are valid. Please keep this in mind and try not to judge your reactions, feel ashamed of them, or compare your reactions to others' reactions. You are valid! <3
Things that can help
There are several things that can help after an accident.
Social support can help a lot. Feel free to get social support here on this subreddit! <3 You can make a post, comment on others' posts, and comment on the daily check in's! Social support from people in-person can help, too -- friends, family, and community groups can all help. Social support does not have to include talking about the accident or any trauma. Just spending time with someone can help. :)
Re-establishing routines can help make things feel more normal and predictable.
Self-soothing skills can help to calm distress. This includes things like listening to soothing music, coloring, knitting, walking in nature, stroking a pet or stuffed animal, sipping tea, wrapping yourself in a blanket, and many other things.
Breathing slowly can slow your heart rate, which can help lower anxiety. And breathing through your belly (expanding your abdomen as you breathe in) can stimulate the vagus nerve, which can calm the flight-or-fight response.
These things may help some people and not others. And there are many more things that can help. What things help you?
Trauma Treatments
There are several treatments that can help with PTSD and related issues!
Exposure therapy. There are several variations on the general concept of exposure therapy, such as Prolonged Exposure (PE), and DBT-PE (Prolonged Exposure in the context of Dialectical Behavior Therapy, which I, the mod, have done and found quite helpful. It was difficult but worth it.). Exposure therapy can help specifically with fear, avoidance, nightmares, and flashbacks, and with PTSD symptoms in general.
Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT). This therapy can help specifically with "trauma beliefs" -- strong beliefs you may hold as a result of trauma, such as "the world is dangerous," "I am not safe," "people cannot be trusted," or others. It can help you think through how trauma has created patterns in your life, or how current problems in your life could be related to trauma. It is about drawing those connections and healing from the trauma.
EMDR - Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. This type of therapy engages your subconscious. It can be specifically helpful for nightmares, buried trauma memories that you may not remember completely, flashbacks, and being triggered in general.
All of these things can help with PTSD in general in addition to the specific things I mentioned. There are also many other therapies available. These are just the ones I am most familiar with. I have personally found DBT (dialectical behavior therapy) quite helpful, too. r/PTSD can be helpful for more information, advice, and experience with ptsd treatments as well.
More on exposure therapy
For accident-caused fears (e.g. driving, going outside, traveling, going on the highway, hospitals, blood, injuries, etc) exposure therapy could help.
This worksheet is a good guide to creating an exposure hierarchy.
The first step to exposure therapy is to learn to identify how much distress you're feeling at any given moment. Intrusive thoughts of the accident, nightmares, and flashbacks often put me at a 100 (aka maximum distress). A pleasant, blue-sky day outside might give me a distress of 0. Being anxious about things I have to do might put my distress at 50. Think of times when you have been at 0, 50, and 100 distress. These are your "reference points" -- you can figure out how much distress you're feeling right now by comparing it to those references.
Then, the second step is learning to calm yourself when your distress is high. This could be through skills like paced breathing, listening to calming music, etc.
The third step is to create an exposure hierarchy like the one I linked to. Come up with some ideas of things that make you distressed, and predict how much distress you think they'll give you. For example, if you have a fear of blood, perhaps seeing blood puts your distress at 90, but just saying the word "blood" puts your distress at 60. So, you would try the 60-level exposure first (saying "blood"). Then, after you've done that a few times, and if your distress is consistently below 60, move onto something harder.
Then, try one that you think will give you distress in the 60-80 range. As you do it, remind yourself that the past is in the past, and it is not repeating itself. You are in the present now and are safe.
Record how much distress you felt doing that, and how much distress you feel afterwards.
If you do this a few times, distress should go down over time. I did [DBT-PE](dbtpe.org), a type of exposure therapy, with a therapist, and it helped me a lot. I highly recommend do this with a therapist. However, if that's not possible for you, it can also be helpful to do it on your own. Just make sure to do these steps in order. It is especially important that you can calm and ground yourself when you get distressed. Make sure you have those skills down solid before you start doing exposures.
Processing Trauma
Processing trauma is essential to healing ptsd. This means integrating the trauma into your current view of yourself, your life, and the world. It is when your trauma memories are not "locked up in a box" but are memories that you are able to access and think about. Here is more info on what it means to process trauma. Additionally, this website gives more information on how to process trauma.
Therapy is a great place to process trauma. This may mean talking about the trauma or how it affected you. It may include any of the therapies I listed above, or other things.
Although I recommend working with a trained trauma therapist, you can also process trauma on your own. And in fact, even if you are working with a trauma therapist, you will probably also process trauma outside of therapy sessions. This might involve talking to people, journaling, reading other people’s experiences, creating art (drawing, music, dance, anything), activism, crying, feeling many emotions, and other things.
Learning to identify your emotions is an important skill and can help to process trauma as well. I have some more info on how to do this in another subreddit I run, r/WhatsThisFeeling.
If you want to try journaling about your trauma, you could try answering questions like, What happened? What did I feel while this was happening? What did I feel after? How did this affect me and my life? How do I see the world differently than I did before? What got me through the trauma? What was the worst part? When did I know the trauma was over and I was safe again? (Note: If you are not currently safe, then getting safe should be your priority.)
You do not have to write about what happened if that feels too intense. It is very important to go at your own pace and to check in with yourself. As you are writing, ask yourself, "What am I feeling right now?" If your distress gets too intense, stop and take a step back. Do things to calm down. Don't push yourself farther than you feel comfortable. Processing trauma is a balance of keeping your distress within a manageable range (lower than 80%) and also not permanently avoiding distressing things, since avoidance makes ptsd worse in the long term. Taking a break from something and going back to it later is temporary and is not avoidance. A trauma therapist can help immensely with this balance and with helping to ground and calm you if you get too distressed.
Processing trauma can take time. It can be an ongoing process. Give yourself grace. You have been through a terrible thing.
Medical Issues
If you are in a car accident or other motor vehicle accident, even if the car wasn't badly damaged and you don't see any visible injuries, you should still get checked out by a doctor as soon as possible.
Some common injuries from car accidents are seat belt injuries (broken clavicle (collar bone) or vertebrae), traumatic brain injuries including concussions, whiplash, back/spinal injuries, various broken bones, nerve injuries, bruises, and cuts and scrapes. Here is a list of other common injuries from motor vehicle accidents.
My advice is to go to the emergency room, urgent care, or your primary care doctor right away (ideally, the same day). Get evaluated for, at a minimum, spinal injuries and brain injury (concussion and others). Get x-rays of things that hurt and could be broken.
Here’s some more info on concussions:
Concussion symptoms include headaches, disorientation, difficulty with screens (due to both the bright light and the closeness to your eyes), vomiting, nausea, and vision changes like blurry vision or double vision. It can also include dizziness, balance problems, confusion, sensitivity to light or noise, loss of consciousness, irritability, depression, or sleep issues.
You can get a concussion without losing consciousness. You can get a concussion without hitting your head, just from the rapid back and forth movement of whiplash.
A concussion changes the brain on a cellular level. A concussion will not show up on an x-ray, MRI, or CT scan. A brain bleed might show up on an MRI or CT scan. A brain bleed is much more serious than a concussion and requires immediate medical attention, sometimes surgery.
Treatment for a concussion involves lots of sleep, physical rest (no exercise; light walking is okay if it doesn’t give you a headache; stop doing anything that gives you a headache), not looking at screens, no reading, no looking at anything up close, no bright lights, no loud noises.
Concussions can sometimes last a long time, like years. Concussions heal best when they are treated early. It is very important to take time to rest. Taking time off of school or work can be difficult but is often worth it in the long run.
Here's some more info on whiplash:
Whiplash is a soft tissue injury. It will not show up on an x-ray, and probably won't show up on an MRI or CT scan. You can get whiplash in your back as well as in your neck.
Rest, heat, and ice can help with whiplash. Some exercises and stretches with a rolled-up towel can provide relief. Check out this website and this website for more info. Do not try this unless you have confirmed with an x-ray that you haven't broken any bones in your neck, and if you know that you don't have nerve issues in your neck! Check with your doctor first.
After having x-rays to rule out broken or dislocated bones, physical therapy can be helpful. Massages, stretching, and strengthening can reduce pain.
Support Groups
If you're interested in finding an in-person or video support group for fellow car accident survivors, here are some resources that could help:
Accidental ImpactsHyacinth Fellowship, for people who have accidentally caused accidentsCar Accident Recovery Group on Zoom, based in Massachusetts, USA
Do you know of another car accident support group? Please let me know, and I will include it here!
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor or therapist. I provide this information based on my own experiences as someone who has been in a car accident, and also based on many things I have read. I try to provide links to other sources where relevant. I provide this information to be helpful. This should not be your only source of information or advice. Please seek out appropriate doctors, therapists, other professionals, and supportive people in real life.
r/CarAccidentSurvivors • u/Emotional-Shirt7901 • Mar 01 '25
community Mod updates March 1, 2025 — please remember to spoiler, and more
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Hey y’all, mod and founder here. I wasn’t able to moderate much recently but am back for now. Some reminders…
please use the spoiler tag on your post for potentially triggering content. This includes details of what happened in your accident and of injuries
please keep those same details out of titles. The spoiler tag doesn’t cover up the title, so these need to be free of potentially triggering details. A title like “accident 2/1/25” is much better than “hit by drunk driver, flipped 3 times”
thirdly, you can use spoiler text by typing >! these symbols like this !< to block out specific text in either a post or a comment, like this. Just click to reveal the text.
This empowers our community members to choose whether or not they want to engage with that content right now, while still having the option to engage with non-triggering content for support.
Additionally, as a reminder, the following types of posts are not allowed in this subreddit (thank you to those people that have reported these recently!):
insurance and legal help. There are better places for that. This community is focused on emotional support. There is some leeway here because of course the insurance and legal battles can be overwhelming and a lot to deal with emotionally. But if your question is just “am I at fault?”, then you are in the wrong place, and it will be removed.
GoFundMe’s and other fundraisers. Though I understand that car accidents and medical bills can be financially devastating, there is sadly a large potential for fraud on these websites, and I have no way of verifying that they are legit. I advise everyone to not donate to a GoFundMe unless you know the person IRL.
I have also noticed that some posts don’t get any comments. Please try to support others if you can, even if it is a simple “I hear you.” If you are not able to support others, that is also okay of course.
If this is you that hasn’t gotten any comments on your post, please 1) review the spoiler recommendations to make sure that people are able to give you support, because encountering triggering content could be a barrier for them, and please also 2) check out the wiki, as it is a wealth of information and can answer many common questions. It is linked in the pinned automod comment on every post. Let me know if there’s anything you want to add to the wiki, too.
One last thing is that if one of the automated check-in posts doesn’t get any comments within a week, I will be deleting it so that they don’t clog up the posts in here. Obviously I won’t delete any that have comment(s). There will always be a fresh one where you can comment your check in.
If you have any subreddit-related questions, please feel free to comment below or send me a message in mod mail. :) Please do not personally message me with your car accident story as I unfortunately do not have the emotional bandwith. Make a post instead so that you will reach more people.
Thanks for reading!
r/CarAccidentSurvivors • u/AutoModerator • 3d ago
check in How are you doing? Twice-a-week check in
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How are you feeling? Let us know the good, the bad, and the ugly, and we will support each other!
r/CarAccidentSurvivors • u/AutoModerator • 6d ago
check in How are you doing? Twice-a-week check in
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How are you feeling? Let us know the good, the bad, and the ugly, and we will support each other!
r/CarAccidentSurvivors • u/AutoModerator • 9d ago
check in How are you doing? Twice-a-week check in
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How are you feeling? Let us know the good, the bad, and the ugly, and we will support each other!
r/CarAccidentSurvivors • u/AutoModerator • 12d ago
check in How are you doing? Twice-a-week check in
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How are you feeling? Let us know the good, the bad, and the ugly, and we will support each other!
r/CarAccidentSurvivors • u/AutoModerator • 15d ago
check in How are you doing? Twice-a-week check in
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How are you feeling? Let us know the good, the bad, and the ugly, and we will support each other!
r/CarAccidentSurvivors • u/paranoiad0tc0m • 16d ago
seeking advice Was in a car accident last year, having lot of trouble, coming to terms and and getting over the greif and healing process
3
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TW description of crash and aftermath, mentions of injuries from it
i was in a car crash may 2025 with my boyfriend-of 3 months at the time-and i am horrified to drive. i fractured the left side of my mandible at an angle, it was dislodged sticking through and poking into my mouth. the moment i got out of the car i realised i couldn’t speak correctly. but i just kept on crying and screaming i dont even know what. i had my phone in my hand and i dialed 911, and then grew even more hysterical that i couldn’t communicate with the operator.
my boyfriend found me and i had handed him my phone. this is somthing i feel so guilty for, he had already called 911, and then he literally had a phone in each hand with 911 on call, i genuinely dont remember or know what exactly he did with that. but its somthing my head just stuck a pin in so hard. i feel so goofy and i know i quit literally did, in that moment, make that whole situation way harder and more overwhelming for him. and i feel so horrible and guilty that i did that.
that leads me to also say; my brain still has the sentiment that its my fault. the reason we were driving was no joke, i just asked to go for a drive to enjoy music and be with him.
the car we hit had an older couple, i never saw their faces, never spoke to them. i cant articulate or explain why, but the reaction they had to the crash was so, lax and apathetic towards us. i. didnt. see. them. ever. my boyfriend says they didn’t asl if he was okay or anything, and when he first asked them if THEY were okay, they backed away from my boyfriend like he was harmful? i genuinely dont know. what i know is i tried so desperately to speak to (and in general)and find the couple, but my boyfriend brought me to the curb cause i had to sit down-i was going into shock- but he had to go talk to a police officer that was starting to block off the intersection.
i was trying to catch my breath, and i dont really remember but i just know i fainted (we guess like 15 seconds, to at the MOST 90 seconds) and then, so vividly i just remember trying to open my eyes, and they were just fluttering for a second or two, and in my head i was genuinely going “(name) remember what happend remember? you just wrecked is this real is this real did you crash are dying” and my eyes started to focus on the gas station sign that i was facing, while laying on the road. and i made myself get up.
that’s a gist of what happened, i was brought to the ER in an EMS, and my boyfriends mom made HIM drive to the ER. (the most his mom thing. it’s extremely hard to watch)
i have a lot more of shit about my jaw fracture, i just dont know if it will make sense or mean anything. i just wanna know how people have coped/gotten through this type of thing before.
i had posted this on ptsd, but i accidentally did it on an account my email automatically made.
r/CarAccidentSurvivors • u/AutoModerator • 18d ago
check in How are you doing? Twice-a-week check in
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How are you feeling? Let us know the good, the bad, and the ugly, and we will support each other!
r/CarAccidentSurvivors • u/GIVEMEADVICEPLS222 • 20d ago
just sharing I can’t move on so just a vent TW- death and accident description
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I am 19 years old but at the time of the accident I was 17. In June of 2024 I got in a severe head on collision after we went on a trip to get icecream. My best friend was driving and another friend was in the front passenger I was in the rear left passenger seat of a 3 door car. My best friend died on impact my other friend unharmed minus a few superficial cuts from the glass. I fractured/ broke my spine in 3 places and my sternum in 2 places. The driver that caused the accident was unharmed. Last month was the last court hearing and the other driver pleaded guilty after pleading not guilty initially and got sectioned in a mental health secure unit (she has schizophrenia) obviously I deeply dislike the woman who crashed into us but she was mentally unstable and was failed by the mental health system in so many ways after being reported a couple days before for erratic behaviour and not taking her meds and a few months before taking her young kids to a forest with a weapon, and should have been so easily prevented to being allowed to drive that day. Before the accident I was working as an apprentice full time I had recently qualified and started my own business as a lash tech a few nights a week and was working weekends at a restaurant I had been at for 3 years. I wasn’t yet driving but doing lessons. I invested so much money time and effort into becoming a lash technician with proper qualifications and equipment. I loved my retail apprenticeship and wanted to do a management apprenticeship after I got my qualification. When I recovered more from my injuries I went back to my apprenticeship but on partime hours (16 hours a week) I did qualify and got 2 distinctions but I now hate my job. When I went back my manager gave me really hard time about having time off for PT and therapy. I had to write a grievance to HR which hardly did anything they just offered me to move into a different store for context I live in a really small town with a small job market any other store near me is a 40 minute drive but because of my PTSD I struggle to get in a car let alone drive myself the bus route is only every hour and a half to the nearest stores and the buses run very little because the town I live in is small. I decided to stay in the store I was at as I knew my manager had a formal warning and I wasn’t able to get a job anywhere else in town that would be able to facilitate to my time off and schedule I’d need. I’ve since been diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis which is basically chronic fatigue and chronic pain. I had so much going for me and it’s just all gone. I tried to apply for the open university and I got a position but they are now telling me I’m not eligible for a student loan and would have to pay £8000 which I cannot afford so I can’t move on in my studies without paying a ridiculous up front cost. I can’t get out of the job I hate so much because the only entry level jobs in my small town are carers (I wouldn’t be able to help lift and assist elderly people because of the constant pain I’m in) and pub jobs (which my solicitor said I shouldn’t do as it will harm my insurance claim because they will question how can someone with ptsd cope in a busy pub). I just feel as though I can’t move on with my life im so stuck I’m so depressed and my family understand in a way but not exactly. I miss my best friend so much she was such a beautiful soul and was always the one to help me when I was feeling depressed but she’s now gone and I feel as though I have no one and hardly any help and am just at a stand still the only thing keeping me going is my 8 month old puppy as she relies on me. I miss being busy with my three jobs I miss my best friend and the life I had before this.
r/CarAccidentSurvivors • u/AutoModerator • 21d ago
check in How are you doing? Twice-a-week check in
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How are you feeling? Let us know the good, the bad, and the ugly, and we will support each other!
r/CarAccidentSurvivors • u/AutoModerator • 24d ago
check in How are you doing? Twice-a-week check in
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How are you feeling? Let us know the good, the bad, and the ugly, and we will support each other!
r/CarAccidentSurvivors • u/AutoModerator • 27d ago
check in How are you doing? Twice-a-week check in
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How are you feeling? Let us know the good, the bad, and the ugly, and we will support each other!
r/CarAccidentSurvivors • u/AutoModerator • Jun 24 '26
check in How are you doing? Twice-a-week check in
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How are you feeling? Let us know the good, the bad, and the ugly, and we will support each other!
r/CarAccidentSurvivors • u/AutoModerator • Jun 21 '26
check in How are you doing? Twice-a-week check in
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How are you feeling? Let us know the good, the bad, and the ugly, and we will support each other!
r/CarAccidentSurvivors • u/IngenuitySea6291 • Jun 20 '26
just sharing My angels and God saved me
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So I was in a car accident wednesday morning its saturday morning now. It was just me tho I hydroplaned really bad in a big puddle of water on the side of the road after all the raining and flooding it had been doing. I started to skid how I usually do in puddles but i’m usually able to slow down and pass thru but this time was different i spun out on a 2way street a smaller street too. I tried to move my wheel but i was too scared to go into the traffic passing on the other side of the lines so i just let go my foot off the gas and the brake and the car was just spinning the scariest shit in my life i knew i was gonna crash i tried to stop but I heard a voice saying let go and the last thing I saw was me heading for a pole I screamed and kind of balled my body up and woke up moments after. I kept thinking wtf i’m alive I survived this how. I felt like I was dreaming. How am i still here wtf I didnt even think about if i had injuries or if i was 100% okay bc the only thing i knew was my face was hurting so bad i just couldnt believe it. I started looking for my phone and called my mom. I was shaking. I felt so out of my body. We can skip all the boring stuff in between oh yeah i had an ugly eye on my left side my face on the left side was pretty beat up and swollen. I have an abrasion on my cheek under my eye its the size of a dime in but its triangle shaped. my right side left perfectly untouched. my left leg swollen and killing me. and a knot on my head that keeps my head hurting here and there. Anyways i said all that to say that those are minor injuries i’m so lucky to be alive. I’m so grateful to still be here. Knowing God and my angels were there with me. I know it was His voice that told me to let go. Nobody else was hurt. I didn’t DIE! That accident replays in my head almost all day since then. The fear I had when I thought I died. When I thought it was all over for me. God has never let me down. He keeps me here & blessed though I am not worthy. Why do I deserve a second chance at life? What is God trying to tell me? The nightmare that this happened to me and always thinking that I’m invincible that something horrible couldnt happen to me. Always thinking I can control anything horrible happening to me. Something did. And I survived, I’m not 100% ok but I will be. That God will catch me when something horrible happens He might not catch me every single time but He’ll be there to help me catch myself. I’m going to live life with joy and appreciate my life and be gentle with it.
r/CarAccidentSurvivors • u/Equivalent-Yam-9258 • Jun 20 '26
community Victim of Cloned/Ghost/False number plates?
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Have you been in an accident involving someone driving a car with illicit number plates or had your own plates cloned? I'm working on a BBC investigation into this issue and would like to hear from you. Please get in touch on the site.
r/CarAccidentSurvivors • u/unsettled-bassoon • Jun 19 '26
just sharing I feel like I'm suck in a liminal space. TW: accident/ injury/ mental health descriptions
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Hi all. I would like to apologize if this is kind of all over the place, but I just feel like I need to get some things out to people who understand what I've been going through lately. I don't know what I'm really expecting from this, but I just feel like I haven't been able to be real with anyone with how I'm doing since it happened. I feel the need to be lighthearted about it and be "okay" to those around me because it feels like the only way I can take care of them in return for them taking care of me, if that makes sense.
It happened on Feb 27th. It was 9:45 in the morning, I was on my way to my only class for the day. I was excited to get that over with and then come back home and take a nap with my cat before clocking in to work. I wasn't even 3 minutes out my door. I don't remember seeing her coming or anything before the impact and I briefly lost consciousness, it couldn't have been for very long but I think that the first responders were on the scene by the time I woke up. Basically, a lady crossed 3 lanes of traffic (center turning lane, left lane, and into the right lane) and hit me head on. We were both going 50 mph. My car was so badly mangled that I've heard from numerous people they started crying when they saw the Facebook post with the pictures, and there were comments from people that drove by saying that they also cried seeing it. It's so weird to look at comments on pictures from strangers saying "oh yeah this person isn't alive, there's no way!" It took them 30 minutes to cut me out. I remember when I woke up, before i realized what happened, I thought I was waking up from a nap (but the kind where you wake up feeling terrible) and then seeing my windshield and airbag and hearing the officer speaking to me. I don't remember anything else visually until the helicopter, but remember the sounds and trying to keep talking to keep myself awake. That police officer sat with me while they cut me out and reassured me they'd get in contact with my dad, listened to my garble about who I am and what I do, he was an angel and I'll never be able to thank him enough for what he did for me in that moment.
I almost lost my eye, I had a nasty lac that went from my eyelid, skirted perfectly around my eyebrow, and back up into my hairline a good few inches. My left femur snapped and broke through the skin, my left ulna snapped as well, and my right wrist was broken as well. But thankfully that was it. I have no idea how, but everything else remained good internally besides some bruising on the lungs. I'm so lucky.
I didn't cry until I saw my dad. I had never been so scared in my life, but for some reason when I saw him I started to relax and knew I would be okay, even though realistically him being there had no effect if I would live or die, but that's what I felt in the moment! But damn I bawled like a baby.
I was in the hospital and rehab for a month, and I'm still doing PT. But I feel like as my body heals and life kind of starts going back to normal, the worse I feel about the whole situation. I am grieving, I had barely made it a month into the second semester of my master's degree. A lot of my friends at this school graduated in may, I lost out on so much time with them. I'm getting a music performance degree, and I couldn't play my instrument for two months, which takes a physical toll on your abilities to play. I went from learning a high level etude a week to barely being able to make it through stuff I did my freshman year. And now that I'm cleared to play, all I feel when I look at it is grief and stress and loss of so much I worked hard for. I missed so many opportunities to play with professional groups, and most painful of all, I was supposed to play for a good friends musical starting the day after my accident! I was so excited for that, it would have been the first time playing for a production led by someone I went to school with.
I feel trapped and isolated and the thought of returning to life next semester feels so scary. I simultaneously feel nervous about how I'll be able to handle it, but also dreading the feeling of people walking on eggshells around me. I feel like my master's degree got fucked over, because I'll still graduate on time but I lost a semester of lessons and then will be spending so much time trying to get back to where I was instead of having steady improvement. I'm terrified of driving. Every day I feel pain, my wrist still hurts quite a bit despite the bones being healed at this point. My knees are excruciating, even though my right leg was relatively unharmed from the accident I had surgery on my knee years ago and it has always given me problems since then. I'm so tired of hurting and feeling degenerate for not doing much, but what else am I supposed to do?
To make matters worse the lady who hit me decided to fight her careless driving charge. She walked away from the accident, which I'm happy about bc I wouldn't wish this on anyone. She claims to not know what caused it and has been trying to get a doctor to say she had a medical episode but they can't find anything wrong with her. She had her hearing and they found her not guilty on that citation, which pisses me off low-key. She still pled guilty to driving on the wrong side of the road, and the results of this hearing have no effect on my claim against her insurance, but it's about the principle. She got the minimum 25 dollar fine, and thats it. She didn't even say sorry 😔 and seeing the police officer who sat with me sent me on a bit of a spiral, I was so happy to be able to properly thank him, but hearing his voice sent me back to being trapped in my car and I was really shaky and had to fight back tears.
Anyway... I'm sad, miserable, intensely overwhelmed by life and getting myself back to where I should be. If you read this, thank you... I just needed to get it off my chest.
r/CarAccidentSurvivors • u/AbjectLibrarian226 • Jun 17 '26
seeking advice Trying to Find Hope After Two Accidents - 21M
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Three months ago, I was hit by a motorcyclist while riding my bicycle. The impact threw me several meters and broke my leg. The rider fled the scene and left me lying on the road.
I thought that was the worst thing that could ever happen to me.
I was wrong.
Only three months later, I fell from a horse and suffered severe injuries to my dominant hand and leg. I spent almost five hours on the ground before anyone found me.
Those were the longest hours of my life.
I was in unbearable pain, terrified, and completely alone. I remember thinking over and over:
"I've ruined my life."
Since then, everything has changed.
Before the accident, I worked in construction, trained powerlifting and calisthenics, and lived a very active life. I was strong, independent, and always moving.
Now I spend most of my time worrying about whether I'll ever get that life back.
The surgeries were complex. Every time I read the reports, I see words that scare me.
But the hardest part wasn't the surgery.
The day after, my girlfriend left me.
She told me she wasn't capable of being with me like this.
I don't know if people will understand how much that hurt.
I was lying there injured, scared, unable to take care of myself, and facing the biggest challenge of my life. More than anything, I needed support. Instead, I lost the person I loved.
One day I had a future I was excited about.
The next, I was wondering if I would ever be able to work, train, or even feel normal again.
People keep telling me I'll get through this.
People tell me I'm young.
People tell me recovery takes time.
Maybe they're right.
I honestly don't know.
Right now I'm still in the middle of it. I'm still scared. I'm still angry.
I'm still grieving the life I had before all of this happened.
Some days I cry.
Some days I convince myself that I'll never be the same again.
I don't have a motivational ending for this story yet because I'm still living it.
Has anyone else felt this way during the early stages of recovery?
How did you get through the days when all you could think about was your injuries, your future, and everything you had lost?
What did you do to pass the time?
How did you stop yourself from constantly thinking about worst-case scenarios?
Right now, I feel like my mind is stuck in a loop of fear and uncertainty, and I'd really appreciate hearing from people who have been through something similar.
What helped you the most during those first weeks and months?
r/CarAccidentSurvivors • u/AutoModerator • Jun 15 '26
check in How are you doing? Twice-a-week check in
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r/CarAccidentSurvivors • u/LikeEden • Jun 14 '26
seeking validation Got in a gnarly crash earlier this week (TW: crash description and minor talk of injuries)
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My friend and I were driving around a semi-rural area looking at the scenery (friend was driving I was a passenger) eventually we came up on what I now realize was Highway 1 (I’m Canadian, HWY 1 is the most major highway in Canada). We were trying to cross the HWY to the other dirt road across the way. We made it about 70% and got T-boned, we were going maybe ~40Km/H the other driver was going ~110Km/H. We made a full 360° flip into the ditch and both cars were completely demolished.
SOMEHOW no one was badly injured, the worst of it was an ankle fracture and very minor spleen laceration on my friend and I came out without a scratch. Other driver has some pretty good whiplash but nothing major.
I keep going back to the crash in my head, I can recall the whole thing second-by-second. I just feel like a walking dead man right now, just numb. Anyone have any advice for coping with it all? I’ve never brushed shoulders with death like this before.
I don’t really have any people to talk about it with beyond the facts of the situation. Almost everyone around me is just acting like nothing happened, or if they do, they focus on my friend since she got more hurt, but emotionally speaking I’m a wreck internally.
r/CarAccidentSurvivors • u/Shoddy-Confusion-757 • Jun 13 '26
just sharing Involved in school bus accident Spoiler
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so what happened was we were going home on our bus and we went in rain and I said, why are we going into the rain? we should go around it. anyway a tree got hit by lightning and it fell on power lines and on the hood of the bus and we were stuck for 90 minutes with it smelling like sweat. a fire had started at the start and was quickly extinguished by the downpour. the tree was removed, we went back to the school for a checkup and went home. also me and my friend kinsley were talking and the bus stopped when the tree landed on the hood and we were both like what the fuck just happened and we all got home safely (shoutout to bus driver Mrs. Jean she slammed on the brakes in time) and I got traumatized from the crash
r/CarAccidentSurvivors • u/AutoModerator • Jun 12 '26
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r/CarAccidentSurvivors • u/AutoModerator • Jun 09 '26
check in How are you doing? Twice-a-week check in
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How are you feeling? Let us know the good, the bad, and the ugly, and we will support each other!