Peter Sullivan, Sophomore
Last Wednesday started off as a typical day for most citizens in Marblehead. People were going about their business, birds were chirping, squirrels were hopping from tree to tree, and the chilly November breeze was blowing through. However, any preconceived notion that it would be a normal afternoon was soon shattered when a young woman was struck by an oncoming car on Humphrey Street while trying to pull out of a parking spot The young woman, who will not be named in order to protect their privacy, reported to first responders that she was not able to see the car due to the glare from the sun. The red car that struck the young woman contained two drivers, whose names will also be protected, a young woman and an older man. At the time it was unclear which was driving the vehicle when the accident occurred. Luckily for the young woman who was struck, the house she crashed next to was home to a member of the Marblehead Fire Department, and he was able to properly control the situation until the first responders arrived. The young woman suffered no injuries except for a small scratch on the head, as it appears their airbags didn’t deploy when she was struck. The whole situation lasted only about an hour and a half, and soon both parties and first responders departed from the scene. Fortunately, I was able to snag an interview with one of the bystanders, a man named Brian Driscoll who is a resident on the street where the accident occurred and a family friend of the young woman. I asked him a few questions about the accident and how he felt about it:
Q: “What was your reaction when you first showed up to the accident?”
A: “Just a little anxiety, ’cause you could hear the crash from our house. So my daughter, my wife, and I all came out. You know, we knew some of the people in the crash, a little bit of anxiety. Seeing that red car that was pretty totalled, you could tell it was a good accident, and we could hear the car spinning, and we heard kinda the smash into the tree. But luckily no one was hurt, so they’ve all gone home, they were able to walk and move around, so I feel good about that.”
After getting his account of the accident, I asked him about whether or not he believed this could have been avoided
Q: “Do you think that this could have been prevented in any way, or is this just an unfortunate event that would have happened either way?”
A: “I mean the only thing that I heard, and even the guy who was riding the fire truck here said that he was blinded. You can see the sun right now coming down on the road. He said that he was even having trouble driving down, and I heard the driver explaining to the policeman that the sun was in her eyes. You know a combination of, you know, maybe the sun and a combination of not being aware. It looked like she hit the back of that car and spun out. I’m not sure that there’s anything you can do to prevent it. You know, luckily there were no kids on the road coming from school. It was obviously just after the kids had come from school, because it was kind of scary when that car spun up on on the sidewalk”
Although this accident was terrifying for both parties, no serious injuries were reported, and both the young woman and the two people in the red car left the scene safely. However, this shouldn’t stop readers from taking an important lesson away from this. If you are driving and the sun is in your eyes, either use your sun visor to block it or wear a hat or sunglasses to lessen the glare. Almost one-third of all auto crashes are caused by bright sunlight that blocks the drivers view. So be aware while out on the road, because not all accidents can end as fortunately as this one.