I was just in a major 4 vehicle pile up. This is the only accident I've ever been injured in, although the rolling of the 'vette was probably the scariest.

My brother and I were driving west on the 90 in central NY. He's been selected for some special project and has to drive out to LA from Boston for his job. I was going to ride with him and help him get out there faster and just fly back. Anyways, its night and raining, the car is his black on black 2002 328 BMW. The car is spotless, he is anal about this car. He was driving at the time and noticed that there was some standing water ahead so he takes precaution. He starts slowing down, and for added effort, he puts his hazard flashers on. We start making way through the water and it gets deeper. Its like the Nile river was crossing the interstate. On the other side of the highway there were cops telling traffic to slow down. A major water backup from the rains or a water main break or a combination of both must have occurred. No cops were present on our side of the highway.

We were in the water pretty deep, like a foot of water when the first vehicle rear ended us. It was a Chevy van, mid 90s maybe, driven by an old lady who shouldn't operate a wheel chair, let alone a vehicle. I don't think she slowed down at all, probably hit us at about 70 MPH. The BMW was spun and pushed deeper into the water. The front of the vehicle was now pointing at the guardrail on the right side of the road, the van barreled forward after pushing us and slammed into the left concrete barrier. Shaken, I look towards my brother to see if he's OK. He's searching for his phone when he looks up at me and says OH SHIT. That's when the second car struck the passenger side of the BMW. It was a late 90s Accord. That hit actually knocked me around a bit, and ended up breaking my hand. When I started to come to my brother was trying to drag me out of the car. When I got out of the driver's side, I was standing in a foot and a half of water. It was above my knees, I was shocked. My brother grabbed me by the arm and jumped over the guard rail telling me to get out of the way. I followed suit, jumped over the guard rail and looked back to examine the damage. He was already on his phone when the 4th vehicle plowed through the pile of cars. An 18 wheeler tractor trailer demolished what was left of the BMW and Accord, along with our possessions.

It was quite the experience, and I'm lucky that the accord hit only smashed my hand. I have a few cuts and bruises other than the cast on my right hand, but most of those are healing nicely. The BMW probably saved my life. The driver of the Accord got out of his car at some point. We shared a meal at Denny's after the police and tow trucks cleaned up the cars. He said he didn't even see the BMW until he hit it. The old lady in the van was taken away by ambulance along with her husband. They both sustained injuries worse than I did.