On my way home from work that Saturday afternoon the traffic started to stop. I knew it was probably just the tractors trying to cross the road just as they were doing earlier in the same spot while on my way to work. As I glanced over towards the freshly plowed fields I saw the large farm equipment sitting idle.
It must be an accident. But no one was standing around gawking as people usual do.
"Uh Oh" must have just happened I thought.
As I came close enough to see what was going on, a police officer had just arrived and was radioing for additional help and trying to find someone to direct traffic. There were three vehicles and one flatbed trailer involved spread around quite oddly, unable to figure out who hit who. As I inched my way by I glanced over to see a woman standing in front of one of the vehicles which was facing the oncoming lane flipped up on it's side. She was completely emotionless and frozen. There was somone slumped over in the drivers seat still buckled in! Why was no one helping this person to get out? As fast as I thought those words I realized the top of the vehicle was sheared off along with the neck and head of it's dirver. My breath was lost and felt the shock of such a scene crying all the way home.
What was that poor lady thinking as she stood there two feet away? Why did no one cover the body? Why did I have to see such a thing? The questions kept racing through my mind. Was that real? If I had been there 10 minutes before I may have been involved. I knew I should have left work when I was done as my boyfriend was waiting for me at home, but my gut kept turning and sidetraking me not to leave. I am thankful either way that I was not involved. Who knows...
We see such horrible things on tv and in movies but when it's live and real the impact is very different. It becomes personal. A life is gone and in such an aweful manner. That was someones child, parent, friend. As my thoughts come together I am reminded everyday to be thankful I am here and how fragile and delicate human life is. There is no greater gift that the gift of love. Appreciate and cherish everyone around you and always let them know they are loved.
My deepest sympathy to the Richards family on their loss.
Driver slumped over wheel before crash
Armando L. Sanchez/The State Journal-Register
Springfield police and firefighters secure the scene of a fatal car accident Saturday on Stanford Avenue. Police closed Stanford between MacArthur Boulevard and Fifth Street for more than three hours.
By RHYS SAUNDERS (rhys.saunders@sj-r.com)
THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER
Posted Nov 29, 2009 @ 11:30 PM
Last update Nov 30, 2009 @ 05:41 AM
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Witnesses say a driver killed in a three-vehicle collision in Springfield on Saturday was slumped over the wheel of his pickup just before the crash, Sangamon County Corner Susan Boone said Sunday.
Boone said Steven S. Richards, 36, died as a result of the 2 p.m. crash in the 600 block of West Stanford Avenue. She added that an autopsy scheduled for today could determine whether a medical problem caused the crash.
Springfield Deputy Chief Clay Dowis said Richards was westbound when the truck veered across the road into oncoming traffic. His truck collided with an eastbound pickup and a car before rolling onto its side. Richards was wearing a seat belt, police said.
The drivers of the other two vehicles were taken to St. John’s Hospital for non-life-threatening injuries, according to Springfield Fire Deputy Division Chief Greg Surbeck. All three of the vehicles had single occupants.
Dowis said the stretch of road on Stanford Avenue does not have a high rate of vehicle crashes.
