I promised in my February 2025 review post that I would share more details about the accident I was in on my way home from Milton Keynes. So here is that post!
Warning: I will share a few photos of the banged-up car, so if that kind of thing freaks you out, maybe skip this post.
On Sunday, February 2nd, I was driving home from a long work weekend when I got into a single-car accident. I don’t remember exactly what happened, but I do remember being very tired and thinking I should drink some of my water, as maybe that would wake me up. I think I was reaching across the passenger seat to get my water bottle, which was still in my backpack. This is a move I’ve made 100 times while driving! Somehow on this day, it threw me off enough that I lost control of the car.
I remember the car starting to spin out and trying to regain control of it. We can tell from the data from the Tesla that I was going about 60mph in a 70mph zone, so at least I wasn’t speeding! When I first lost control, I thought maybe it would just spin out on the road. But then suddenly the car was rolling instead.
Having gone back to the accident site now, what seems to have happened is that I hit a guardrail that caused the car to flip. It rolled at least twice, maybe more, before finally coming to a stop upside down on the roof. The car had fallen down in a ditch and was not visible from the road. No one saw it happen either.
So there I was, hanging upside down by my seatbelt, and freaking out. My first thought was to lay on the horn, hoping someone might hear it and come help. Then I realised that I needed to help myself. I unbuckled my seatbelt and dropped down onto the roof that was now the floor.
I don’t remember looking for my phone, but I had it practically right away, which feels like a small miracle. It had been just sitting in the center console so it could have been anywhere, but suddenly I had it in hand, it was undamaged, and it didn’t have service but could make emergency calls so I dialed 999.
While on the phone, I tried getting out of the car, but the driver’s side door was wedged into the side of the hill. So I had to crawl across the car to open the passenger side door. That was tricky to do upside down, especially since Tesla door handles are a bit weird. But I managed, and I was able to get out of the car.
I stumbled into some spiky tree branches and tore up my coat, but thankfully the coat protected me. It was also dark and cold by this point, so I was very glad I had it. I almost never drive with a coat on because I get too hot, but for some reason this night I still had it on! I was able to climb up the side of the hill and stood on the safe side of the guardrail to wait.
I kept hoping someone would stop to help, not that there was much to do other than maybe keep me company. I stood at the edge with the flashlight on my phone turned on and shining on me. But it was dark, on a curve, and I don’t think anyone could see me when they drove by at 70mph. Honestly, even if someone had seen me, it wouldn’t have been safe for them to stop! So I waited alone for about 20 minutes for the ambulance and police to arrive.
When the ambulance arrived they took good care of me, and one of the medics even rescued my backpack from the wreckage. The other one used her phone to call Joel, since I still didn’t have any service. I was taken to the nearest hospital in Oxford, and received amazing care from the NHS including a full CT scan, xrays, and an ECG. (And yes, one of my first thoughts was gratitude that all this healthcare will cost us nothing!)
I am so glad no one else was hurt in the accident. And it has been incredible to see how we have a village around us here, even though we've only been here 5 years.
The accident happened about 2 hours away from home and we only have one car which I had just wrecked, so we had to figure out how to get Joel to me. I texted a friend who lives in Newport to tell her Joel was going to call, and when he did, she was amazing. Rachel dropped everything to pick Joel up, bring him to the hospital, stay with us till the wee hours of the morning, and then drive us home. I don’t know what we would have done without her.
Later that week, between our friends Amy and Steve we got rides to and from Oxford on Wednesday to see the car and salvage what we could from the wreckage. (A big no thank you to the salvage place that wouldn't let us take any photos of it.) Our friend Vince offered to read through all of our insurance documents to make sure we knew what we were entitled to.
The Methodist Connexion was also amazing, at every level. I was coming home from a connexional committee meeting and when I was in the ambulance I sent a request for prayers to my subgroup. Word spread, and one of the chairs of that committee sent the local Methodist minister to the hospital. (Sadly I was down in CT when she arrived, but it was still comforting.) Joel called my Chair of District who took care of notifying my Circuit, who immediately jumped into action to cover Sundays and make sure I could take the next 2 weeks off without worry.
Of course, being me, I still worried about work a bit, but everyone was so gracious and insisted that I take time off. Rachel covered a funeral for me, and we really did need all that time not just for rest and recovery but for all of the admin and paperwork that came with totaling out one car and buying a new one.
Speaking of admin and paperwork, I cannot say enough good things about our insurance company, Admiral. They were easy to get on the phone and we always got a lovely person to talk to (sadly, rare for many companies these days as it's easy to get in an automated circle of hell!) We called them on Monday morning and by Thursday afternoon we had the money in our bank account. It was the easiest experience I have ever had with an insurance company, and we will now be customers for life. They didn't even raise the rates on us when insuring the new car!
The silver lining of all this has been the ability to truly see just how loved and cared for we are in this place we have chosen to call home.
If you’ve made it this far, you get a bonus photo! Here is one Joel snapped of me while in the hospital, waiting to be released. You can see I was exhausted and had been crying a lot, but I tried to give a thumbs up!
I am so, so grateful to everyone who helped, who prayed and sent well wishes, and I am grateful to God that it wasn’t worse.
Lots of people have asked me if I had trouble getting back behind the wheel, and I can honestly say that I haven’t. I think it helps that we went back to the Hyundai Kona, which drives so differently from the Tesla it does not feel at all like the same experience. I don’t think I could ever get behind the wheel of a Tesla again without having some flashbacks. We also won’t ever drive a Tesla again for political reasons, either. We debated getting one again because we are pretty sure the safety features of it saved my life, but we just couldn’t bring ourselves to give money to Elon Musk. Since things have gotten even crazier politically Joel has joked that he’s glad I crashed the Tesla so we don’t have to drive it anymore!
I’m writing this post about two months after the accident now, and I have mostly recovered physically. I had some gnarly bruises and some cuts and scrapes from the glass, but nothing too serious. My right ankle is still a bit dodgy and I saw a physiotherapist about it last week. He gave me some strengthening exercises to do and hopefully, it will be better again in no time. In the mean time, I’m taking a break from tap class until September to give it time to heal. All that jumping around was a no go. (And sadly, I missed an exam and a competition my class participated in!)
Okay, I think that’s enough rambling about all of this for now. I mostly wrote this for my own memories, so if you read this far, thank you!
XOXO, Bethany