So this is what the result is when you’re just about stopped in rush-hour traffic and some clown driving a Dodge Ram utility truck traveling approx. 60 MPH plows into your Saturn, smashing you into the back of a brand-spankin’ new 2014 Mini Cooper, and causing a massive backup that becomes the lead story of every late Friday afternoon traffic report on the radio and TV.

All because, in the words of the driver of the Dodge Ram, he “wasn’t paying attention”. Geez. Ya think?

Fortunately, neither Tracey (who was driving), nor my sister-in-law Tam (who was the only passenger) were seriously hurt, but as you can see from the pics it could have been a whole lot worse.

For one thing, Tam had a bird cage (containing her lovebird) on her lap, and the cage kept her head from hitting the dashboard or the windshield, since, as hard to believe as it sounds, neither of the airbags deployed. And for the bird, that was a good thing – if the airbag had deployed it would have been a goner. For another, it’s a damned good thing it was just a crappy little Mini-Cooper that they smashed into and not some bigger vehicle. The Mini ended up being totalled as well.

As it turned out the twins were taken to Scottsdale Memorial Hospital, where they were CT-scanned and X-rayed, then released a few hours later. Tam had a mild concussion, and Tracey’s right shoulder was back to being the mess it was before she had surgery on it just a few months ago, but fortunately no more worse than that. Two days later, both girls are just feeling banged up and sore, but that’s to be expected.

While of course everyone is grateful that no one was seriously hurt, having the Saturn transformed from a mid-size into a hatchback (and a totalled one at that!) is a damned shame because it had been paid off for a few years now and we’d put so much money into it (~5K) this year to keep it going for a long time. It sure was nice having no monthly car payment, but then again, as I told Tracey, putting that much dinero into the car was just like having a car payment. Now the coming weeks will be filled with the usual back-and-forth dance between claims adjusters and insurance companies on both the health and auto side of things. Swell.

One final note: kudos to everyone who was involved in taking care of the twins and Tam’s bird from the moment the accident happened to when they were discharged from the ED. The Tempe police (especially the officer who made sure Tam’s bird was taken care of), the Southwind Paramedics, and the ED trauma team at Scottsdale Memorial were all incredible caring and professional. With so much going on in the news today regarding law enforcement, Obamacare, and th like, you sure don’t want to be actively engaged with any of these kinds of folks if you can avoid it, but if you it’s nice to know that when you do there are such wonderful and caring people out there looking after you and your best interests.