I was in a pretty bad car accident ( Edited to add Update)

[Tom Rinaldo]

166. A close brush with death is more than sobering

So glad you came through it in good shape physically. That's what counts. the money/insurance issues will sort themselves through in time.

About 50 years ago I was vacationing in Jamaica driving a rental car over a mountain road. Although it was an adjustment to drive on the left side of the road I don't think I could have avoided the accident we were in if I could have been driving on the familiar right side of the road.

Two lane ride, maybe one foot of shoulder, and a car suddenly approached us partially in my lane as it came around a fairly sharp curve. I quickly swerved left to avoid it. The approaching car clipped the side rear of my car, my front left bumper of my car clipped a reflector post positioned at the edge of the pavement beyond which there was a 200 feet drop into a canyon.

I turned the steering wheel sharply to the right and held on for dear life as the car went up on its two left wheels as we skidded on the brink. I glanced at my friend in the passenger seat who was elevated above me due to the angle of the car at that point. We probably skidded for 5 to ten seconds, it's hard to gauge time at a time line that, before the right wheels fell back onto the pavement and we stopped with the right front wheel collapsed with a broken axle. We were both unhurt.

Another driver saw the accident and was willing to testify that we were not at fault, plus there were skid marks on the road that backed my statement. The police pleaded with me not to press the matter as it would financially wipe out the family of the driver of the other car. I didn't know the local culture very well, we were not on the coast in the tourist district, plus I was somewhat in shock. Without knowing for sure it was the right thing to do I dropped it. My fear was that by doing so it might somehow be used against me by the authorities, but as it turned out it wasn't. The rental agency did not hold me accountable for the wrecked car either (but they refused to rent me a replacement.} So we took local buses for the remainder of our trip. But we were healthy and alive and nothing else mattered.

Again, I'm so glad you came out of that terrifying moment OK.