If you live long enough events happen that can turn into disaster in an instant. September 10th turned into one of those days for me. Early that morning I left home heading to a cycling event. As soon as I got onto GA 400 my dash lights began dimming and my car lost power and stalled in the right lane. I couldn't even turn on hazard lights because the battery was totally dead. Fortunately another motorist pulled in behind me and turned on his hazard lights. He figured my alternator died and I had been running only on battery power which seemed likely to me. I had already called 511 to send a HERO unit and the motorist had a reflective vest and emergency hand held light to warn approaching traffic. Certainly some nervous moments until a police officer arrived.
He called to dispatch a tow truck and as the other motorist left the officer was able to push my car out of the traffic lane into the gore between the right lane and an exit ramp which led to an interstate. I breathed a sigh of relief as it looked like we could tow the car to Dekalb Tire who would open shortly. They had serviced my car many times, and I figured they could replace the alternator and I could then get on with my day. If the repair turned out to be more complicated I would simply ride my bike home and wait out whatever needed to be done. The tow truck arrived and the police officer received another call and had to leave. I later found out that at this time of morning (5:30) Sandy Springs only has two patrol cars on the road as they are going through a shift change. The tow truck driver was concerned about the officer leaving, but I figured we would quickly load my car and be on our way.
The tow truck operator raised the ramp, hooked up my car and instructed me to get in the car release brake, put in neutral and make sure front wheels were straight. I did all those maneuvers and my car was pulled up onto the ramp. The tow truck driver then told me to put the car into park and get out. I did that, opened the door and as I stepped out onto the ramp, I looked back to see headlights aimed at me coming at a high speed. I think I jumped off the ramp just as the approaching car drove up the tow truck ramp and slammed into my car. I landed in the right lane doing one of my better rolls, and faster than I had most likely ever moved in my life rolled back out of the lane. Fortunately no other car was right there in that lane then or I wouldn't be writing this. A few seconds later a motorist did pull up beside me to see if I was OK. I said I was, but asked her to stay there for just a second. She did and I reached under her car to retrieve my hat.
The tow truck driver called 911 and within minutes several police cars and emergency units were on the scene. The other driver got out of his car, phone in hand. I asked if he was OK and he muttered something about needing dialysis, sat down on a curb and began texting. A witness circled back and when interviewed by officers said he thought the other driver was texting just before impact. It made sense to me since the tow truck and my car were out of both the right lane and the exit ramp. The other driver and tow truck driver ended up going to the hospital probably just as a precaution although I figure the police wanted to check out that driver pretty carefully. The police officer who had initially responded had returned and I managed to hitch a courtesy ride back home from him. He had left to respond to a call from Northside Hospital. When he heard the dispatch about a collision at exit 4-A involving a tow truck he returned ASAP along with what seemed too be 3-5 other officers. Guess the shift change had occurred and our incident was the top story.
I spent the rest of the morning dealing with the aftermath. Trying to find a rental car on Saturday without a prior reservation took all morning and trips to two Hertz locations. Turning in a claim to my insurance company retrieving stuff from my car, and beginning the process of shopping for a another car took up the rest of my day. But in hindsight I was very, very fortunate. If I had still been in my car upon impact or if another car was passing in the right lane who knows what would have happened to me. I've had lots of encounters that could have been deadly but not since I was in junior high and wound up underneath a car after a bike/car collision had I come within inches or seconds of death. If the ramp had been lowered I don't think the other driver would have survived.
