I was driving to work one morning, and it was dark out, as it was only 5:30 in the morning. I was on a country road, doing about 50mph. To my left there was open field. As I reached the bottom of a hill, a deer "hopped" out in front of me. That is the best way as I can describe it as it was the last thing I remember about the actual accident, and seemed almost funny to me at the time, as how much the deer resembled a rabbit.

My next recollection was looking at myself from out side of the car. As I looked at the car I saw myself inside, and the interior appeared to be filling up with smoke. (I later learned that is common affect of the air bags going off.) It was at that time I remembered the deer, and started looking for it. I saw it on the other side of the road, about 35yds from my car, almost in the woods, laying in a fetal position. I seemed to see it very clearly from "where I was" and my next impression of it was that it was so young? Now my car was laying on its side in a ditch, so my only view, if I was to have been semi conscience was of the grass.

It was at that moment that the thought came to my mind, "So this is dead?" I seemed almost humorous to me at the time, and I marveled at the number of people on the side of the road at the time, and one man that was walking back and forth in front of his car with a car phone.
My next moment was inside of the car, regaining conscienceness, and trying to get out. It was, indeed, filling with smoke, as I had seen somewhere?.....and the drivers door was jammed as I had also seen, and scrambled to get out the passenger side. A paramedic approached me and told me to get in the ambulance, but before I did, I asked him, "It was a deer right?" He told me yes, and pointed across the road, and there, as I has seen it earlier, lay the deer in the fetal position. In an off hand comment the paramedic also remarked, "Yea, it was a young one too." And I mumbled under my breath......"Yea......I know"

      Denis

© 2002 Aura-Oasis vzw - Denis Dhondt