  This morning I was driving my son to school, we were on the freeway, when a five or six car accident occurred right in front of me. The car in front of me was the first in the line to not hit or get hit. It was a wild experience.
I called 911 and a whole host of people were already out of their cars and helping so I stayed in the car with my babies until a police officer helped me navigate my way out. Years ago, my sister was in a pile-up in Albuquerque on the Big I, pile-ups have always frightened me. Maybe because with most accidents you think your own driving skills might give you a good chance to avoid them, but pile-ups leave you completely without control.
What amazed me was the clarity with which I saw and thought about everything as it occurred. The sounds of tires screeching and cars hitting each other. Debris flicked away and flew through the air and slapped the pavement. I calmly hit my breaks and watched for cars behind me to respond or not. I quickly had to decide whether to stay in the lane or pull onto the sholder. The sholder meant hitting the guard rail if anyone hit me, then being squished between the rail and the smooshing cars.
But the sholder also offered a lesser chance of getting hit since everyone else was in the lane. I took the sholder. The truck behind me fishtailed a little, but regained control, changed lanes and drove away. Within a few seconds, a giant traffic jam filled the rearview mirror. My kids were quiet and listening with me, but no one was alarmed. Like I said, it was wild. 
