[txshopper73]

I'm 34 years old and I had my first car accident with another moving vehicle while delivering mail this past Saturday.

As a rural postal employee, we must provide our own vehicles. While driving, we have the light on top that flashes and we have to have our emergency hazard lights on. I was on my way to the next box down a long road. I see this vehicle stopped at a stop sign. Speed limit on this road is 45 mph.

I see the vehicle start to pull out. I let off the gas and started applying the brake. She doesn't stop. I slammed on the brakes and swerved to the left to miss her (I'm headed straight and she's making a left hand turn). If I would not have swerved, I would have hit her driver side and she would have been very hurt. I ended up hitting her anyway.

I swerve back to the right, went down a ditch and ended up in a barbed wire fence. My immediate reaction was anger. I got out of my vehicle and she's yelling at me..."You had your blinker on, you were turning right!" I replied back, "No, mam. I had my emergency lights on...NOT MY BLINKER!!!"

Then, fear set it. I didn't have my cell phone with me but she had hers. We made sure each other was okay and then I started panicking. I have never shook so bad my entire life. I started hyper-ventilating and she was good. She told me to take a deep breath and got me to calm down.

She let me use her phone to call the post office. It's procedure so they made all the necessary calls. They even called my husband.

Took an hour for a county patrol woman to show up but she can't write the report because it was in the country. We had to wait for DPS and another hour for the report to be written.

The PO called someone to come and pick up my mail. Mail was all over my vehicle. I felt so sorry for Monica (my relief).

The lady that was driving said that she thought I had my blinker on to turn right and admitted that she was in a hurry to get to a party. The vehicle did not belong to her but to her boss (who the party was for).

I felt okay after the accident, though my back and head was hurting and it's really hurting right now along with my right shoulder and neck...I guess classic whip-lash.

The other vehicle involved is missing the front bumper and lights. My vehicle had damage to the bumper, leaking fluid and I guess the right wheel axle is broken because the whole wheel was shoved back and it's not drivable.

We had to get a wrecker to pull it out because of the ditch and the wheel.

I called both insurance companies and her boss's insurance company should be calling me back tomorrow. Pictures were taken and I believe that the lady got a ticket for fail to yield the right of way.

Thank God no one was gravely injured!

I had an appointment with a doctor today. They prescribed Loritab and skelaxin. Hopefully the other driver's insurance will take care of what they need to take care of. If not, I fear that I'll have to contact an attorney.