My first really bad crash, and it happened at 5 km/h.
WHAT HAPPENED?
It was July 6, 2025, around 7 PM. We were just leaving my mom’s house — my wife, our baby (born March 1, 2025), and me in our grey Suzuki Jimny.
I had pushed to get out fast instead of taking my time. Not a fun fact at all: a couple of seconds would have saved us from the crash.
We were barely moving, maybe 5 km/h, when a drunk driver did something I still can’t fully wrap my head around. There was a giant gap between the roads — like 1 meter deep and 2 meters wide — and this guy jumped it, dodged the hole, dodged trees, dodged an entire lane… and then hit us head-on.
His car ended up in a ditch. Ours spun 180 degrees from the impact.
I was changing music on the car screen. I did not see him coming until the very last second.
It was a 1 in a million situation. My first very, very bad crash.
RIGHT AFTER
The first thing I did was check the baby and my wife. They seemed okay.
I was scared and pissed off, but I did not feel pain in my finger for many minutes. I found out my pinkie was broken at the hospital.
My wife got bruises and pain, but nothing serious, thank God. The baby was fine — nothing happened to her.
My wife was super scared. She had suffered a worse car crash when she was a child, and that night all those feelings came back.
WE WERE NOT ALONE
My mom arrived first, with my sister. They stayed with us the whole time and helped us so much. I am really grateful for that.
The other driver admitted fault. He was drunk. For some legal reasons I did not fully understand at the moment, I did not press charges. Nothing happened to him.
That was a bad decision. Next time I will definitely press charges and tell the police to do everything possible the moment they arrive.
I learned something important: for the police to act, you have to press charges at the scene — not later.
THE COST
The whole thing cost us around 80,000 pesos.
Insurance did not cover the full cost of replacing the car. We bought the same model again — another Suzuki Jimny, but white instead of grey — and it was already more expensive. We also switched from automatic to manual, which I preferred anyway because it saved money and I do not mind driving stick.
The new car arrived around September.
WHAT I LEARNED
- Press charges at the scene. Do not wait. Do not assume it can be sorted out later.
- Seconds matter. I still think about those couple of seconds leaving my mom’s house.
- Check on your people first. Baby, wife — everything else can wait a minute.
My pinkie healed like 98%. It is slightly bent, but I have full force and range of motion like before.
This one is for my future self, and for anyone driving with their family: bad luck can find you at 5 km/h. Be ready to protect them — and to make the hard calls when it counts.
