Fortunately, I got lucky. Had my seatbelt on, and was paying attention, so when the truck turned in front of me, I was able to react quick enough to avoid a head-on collision. Unfortunately, there was not enough room for me to swerve around him before he nailed me. He admitted fault and was given a citation.
I didn't lose consciousness, but can't remember the first 15-30 minutes immediately after the impact. First thing I remember clearly was the LEO handing me back my license and registration/insurance paperworks, etc. I asked him for help collecting the other driver's info and any witnesses, and he looked at me strange, told me he already had (and the other driver's admission), and told me to get to the hospital. EMS was concerned as well and wanted to transport me by ambulance due to the memory loss and head pain (my head apparently smacked the door frame pretty solidly).
More fortunately, the customer I had just visited was a minute behind me. He pulled over, worked with the police and EMS, and took photographs of the accident. He said he would take me to the hospital. Turns out they would have transported me to a "less than desirable" medical facility, whereas he took me to one near his house. My customer stayed with me the whole time - 4 hours - as I got X-Rays and a CAT scan. No broken bones or concussion, though I feel like I was hit by a Mack truck...which, in this case, I was! Credit one thick Irish skull for again protecting what little brains I have!
My customer called my wife, let her know what was happening, then drove me north of Atlanta for 1.5 hours until we met up with my wife and brother. They took me home and I was in bed for most of Thursday and Friday. Moving around a bit today, though slowly. Still pretty sore, stiff, and my head, neck and back are in a decent amount of pain. I'm counting my blessings though, as no one was seriously injured, and it could have been a heck of a lot worse.
Now comes mountains of paperwork from the company...
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_sad.gif)
Guys, please be careful out there. I know we have a lot of "road warriors" amoung our Levergun community. I gave a presentation just last month and kicked it off with a discussion on driving safety. Our sales people usually have 3-5X the exposure on the road each year than the average American. I know for those making a living driving, it can be 10X or more. All this exposure simply increases the odds that one will be in a traffic accident, and since we can't control all the variables - such as other drivers' actions - one must control every variable he or she can with an eye towards constant safety.
Had I been looking at my phone (I wasn't), or doing anything else that would have distracted me, I wouldn't have had enough time to maneuver like I did. It would have slammed into the truck head-on. It still scares the heck out of me to think about it.
Be safe.