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Be careful and be sure that you are OK.

My brother and I were stopped at a red light in his truck and were rear ended by a Jeep. The collision was tremendous, however there wasn’t any real damage visible. The jeep’s front bumper struck the trailer hitch (with the ball) that was sticking out of the truck’s frame and was extended out beyond the vehicle’s bumper, preventing visible damage.

I had received a medical device (pacemaker) in 2012, and was told not to play football or box because of the ballistic forces, which could possibly damage the “connections.”

I honestly thought about going to the hospital to see if something was torn away regarding the medical device, but talked myself out of it because I had no obvious injuries, and saw no vehicle damage other than a scuff mark on the bumper. Just an awareness that we got really walloped even though there was no real physical damage to validate the force of impact that was felt.

On impact, my body was driven backwards into the seat and the seatbelt retracted and pressed against my body and the coffee cup that I held in front of my chest has impelled into my chest, sending a very real and visceral message that we had been hit with a tremendous force.

A few years after the collision, my brother decided to change out his trailer hitch that was attached to the frame under the bed of his truck.

To the both of our surprise, the hitch was discovered to be damaged so badly, by the previous collision, that it was deemed useless and discarded.

Apparently the two vehicles lined up almost perfectly in the impact, so that the force was absorbed by the trailer hitch, crumpling it in place, and leaving no outward evidence of vehicle damage.

The driver of the jeep must have told his insurance company something I said about the impact, because shortly thereafter, I, and not my brother, the driver and owner of the truck that was hit (rear ended) received a check in the mail for $150, with a cursory note as to my troubles. Weird, it was.

Foolishly, I cashed the check. What I should have done was taken the check to a vampire auto wreck chasing attorney, and told him to get some zeros added to the number on the check, but that’s not my style.

At the accident site, (and) at the time, I also thought about lying down on the sidewalk to await an ambulance to take me to the hospital so that I could be checked out, for I feared that something might have been detached inside my chest due to the violent impact. Again this isn’t really my style but, when we took that crumpled trailer hitch off my brother’s truck, I felt justified in both my worry for my health, and in the idea that maybe an insurance company was right in sending me a check for my pain and suffering, albeit short on zeros.

This is all in hindsight but a lesson nonetheless.