Glass shatters, hoods crumple and metal scrapes as the car is hit from behind: this is an experience most wish to never be involved in, but some at the high school have experienced being in a car accident.
Science teacher Scott Logsdon said he has been involved in three car accidents, and the most recent one involved the other car spinning in circles.
Logsdon explained he was trying to get onto Interstate 70 East from James Road on his way home from work while another car was exiting the highway.
“The car was starting to go off the road, and when the driver tried to fix it, they ended up spinning out,” he said. “They spun through four lanes of oncoming traffic before hitting my car.”
Logsdon said there were vehicles surrounding his car when the other driver hit him.
“The driver that hit me was on the phone,” he said. “He was going too fast and it was raining.”
Logsdon said his initial reaction was shock, but he realized what had happened and remained calm.
“I remember sitting there thinking: ‘Here we are, three cars all tangled up, and people were just going around and going home,’” he explained.
Similarly, senior Campbell Moore said she was involved in a car accident and spun out.
Moore said she was on her way to a team bonding event, when she tried to drive across a street to turn around and park.
“When I went to go, a car clipped the back of us and spun us,” she said. “We ended up on the curb.”
Moore said she was speechless at first and didn’t know what to do.
“When the police got there, they told us it was no one’s real fault,” she added.
Although no one was injured, Moore said the car was totaled.
Similar to Moore, sophomore Charlotte Holzhall’s car was totaled when a car ran a red light and rammed into her family’s vehicle, she said.
“We flipped upside down, skidded on the road and then flipped right side up after we were hit,” Holzhall said.
She was in the back of the car while her dad was driving, she said.
“I don’t remember a lot,” she said. “I was in the emergency room for about six hours.”
Holzhall had a concussion from the accident, and her father sustained similar injuries, she said.
Junior Samuel Horne said he was involved in a car accident last May. He was trying to turn left, but there was a van on the other side of the intersection that created a blind spot. The driver gestured for him to turn, but a car struck the side of his car immediately after he turned, he added.
“The car was totaled,” Horne said. “It took off the right wheel, and the right side was forced in.”
Horne said he was not injured, but his passenger sustained a bloody nose and bruised lip.
“I got a ticket, so I had to go to juvenile court and take a class on driving instruction and dangers of driving,” he explained.
Horne said if he had gotten another traffic violation before Oct. 2, 2023, his license could have been suspended.
For several months, Horne said he didn’t want to drive. But, at his class, they discussed safe driving, which helped him be more cautious on the road, he explained.
“I always imagined how people got in car crashes, and this time I was the person in it,” he said. “It opened my eyes to being safe while driving.”
