I was crossing a crosswalk early this morning on my way to the bus stop for work, while the walk sign was on, and the driver turned left onto a main road from a stop light and smashed into my left side. I was later told that I "flew up into the air".
It was all very much a blur and I was pretty dizzy and out of it at first, but no head trauma. Some kind lady who said she was a nurse ran to help me up and to the side of the road, and the cops and ambulance came pretty fast (I think, at least).
I was taken to the hospital and was told that I fractured my humerus head (left shoulder). They told me I may not need surgery, but we'll see what the orthopedic surgeon says during my follow-up appointment in a few days. Other than that, I just have a bunch of scrapes and bruises.
Overall, while I'm in quite a bit of pain, I'm grateful because it could've been way worse. My SO and parents are pushing to sue for pain/suffering, which I was hesitant to do until I read (online) that I wouldn't be suing the person who hit me, but their insurance company), so I guess that'll probably happen. They already found me a lawyer.
I truly have no ill-will toward that person because shit happens, it was dark, and they got out of the car immediately to call 911, so it's not like they didn't do what was right when it came down to it. I'm sure they're traumatized, and that their insurance payment will go way up... which I feel a little bad about given the state of the US rn. But I guess I don't have any control over that.
Honestly, while the whole thing was obviously pretty traumatic for me, too—and I keep replaying that moment in my head—I think I'd rather get hit by a car than hit someone with my car.
I was struck by a truck in April last year when they turned into a bike path instead of turning into their lane.
I was completely fine at the time, just banged up, I went to a private GP clinic and they did a full assessment and billed it under the transport accident commission (a public fund in Victoria Australia for people injured in transport accidents)
Almost one year on, and what was just a bruise on my shin is still just a bruise on my shin. The blood vessels never healed, the discolouration never went away, the odema still causes pain and I can't kneel or wear boots, and my shin pads for soccer cause pain (and when I take a tackle shin to shin, the pain is so bad it prevents me from weight bearing for an hour or so, and I walked around on a dislocated hip for 3 months, I have a congenital hip deformity, I'm not a stranger to leg pain)
It's literally just a bruise, my regular GP has been keeping an eye on it because it's baffling that it hasn't healed, but it's not dangerous and it's not impacting my life enough that I wish I'd done more at the time of the accident.
But it is annoying, and because I was totally fine after the accident, my TAC claim was open-and-close just to cover the cost of the initial "all clear, just some bruising" private GP appointment. And now I have no way of getting reimbursed for the subsequent "it's been 10 months doc, why is my leg still bruised like I banged it yesterday? Let's get a CT to rule out issues" appointments.
Hindsight is 20-20, if you have any way of keeping your options open as a traffic accident victim to allow your body time to show the true long term impact, take action to leave that door open, just in case.
There's a chance, like me, you will be 100% fine and at most just have a strange new body quirk. But there's also a chance things don't heal the way you expect and it becomes a lifelong issue.