Car Talk. I See a Trend?

Does anyone listen to re-recordings of the radio show called Car Talk?  I learned a lot about auto mechanics from listening to that radio show.  And I have a handy mechanic in that Spouse o' Mine.  He does a lot of auto-magic at our home.  Plus, he can take a car into a repair shop, have the problem assessed, ask knowledgeable questions, and walk out knowing that the repairmen know he knows.

But this is not about Car Talk, or about that Spouse o' Mine.

This post is all about me.

Here is a Volvo Station Wagon that I drove for quite a few years, some 7-10 years ago, until the 4th of July, along I-70 at the Georgetown , Colorado exit, in the mid-afternoon:
 

The driver who struck the back of my car was under-age and unlicensed, the car was full of under-aged kids, there was a whiskey bottle and "residue" found in the car.  (I asked the police officers, "What do you mean, "residue?"  "Marijuana, Ma'am.")

And here is a Volvo Station Wagon that I drove for three years - until August of this year, when I was struck, broadside, by a young woman.  And let's address the airbag, that blessing of car accidents.  I had only two seconds (and I am being conservative) to react to what I perceived as an accident-to-be.  I saw in my peripheral, a car at my sideBOOM!!!.  But that sideBOOM! was simultaneous to my front airbagBOOM! going off.  (Notice, that my airbagBoom! only rated one exclamation point; that is because, as soon as it was deployed, it was just as quickly deflated!  The smoke filled my car.

I thought the smoke meant my car was on fire.  I put the car in park and hopped out, not even bothering to turn the car off.  Many minutes later, a police officer arrived.  I asked him if my car was still running.  It was. He turned it off, explained that the smoke I smelled was from the airbags, and that I would probably have that stench in my nose for the next few days.  (I did not.)

The idiot who broad-sided me was a twenty-something.  I am pretty sure she was texting.  She claimed to the police officers that it was "the full moon".  She was cited. I am pretty sure she must have been texting.  She was a total  idiot at the scene of the accident.  Don't be that Total Idiot, young women.  (Old women, too: don't go there.  Be total a Smart Wise Thing.)

What do I have to say about these two incidents?  Well, first I have to exclaim (again and again and again), "Thanks be to God!"   Both times, just before impact, I asked my brain, "How bad is this going to be?!!!?"  Seriously: that was the question in my head: How bad is this going to be?   Both times, there seemed to be no serious injuries.  I say seriously: I am not left quadriplegic.  I had some bruising, (no one told me that a breast can bruise green  from a cross-strap!)   And my eyeglasses...BONK from the airbag.  GREAT BIG BONK!  This past collision caused some questionable mental faculties.  I should have been seen by a physician.  But the EMS seemed to think I was fine, and since I was alone with no one to second-guess them, I acquiesced.  Since, then, a nurse friend has told me (upon hearing some of my questionable memory and behavioral activities, that I may well have experienced a concussion.  I think, upon hindsight, that I might have, indeed.)   Oh - and the airbag experience?  The next day I exhibited nose and chin abrasion.  Nothing major.

OK, so a week after my car accident I had a flight to Australia.

Stay tuned...because this car nonsense seems neverending...