Let me start off this article by saying I am okay. I'm a little banged up, but I am home safe. Last night the dangerous road conditions got the best of me and I ended up backwards in the shoulder of the road on the parkway. I was one of 4 accidents within a few miles of each other last night on the parkway. This is a cautionary tale that even if you are driving slowly and carefully, things can happen in the blink of an eye. I was a fortunate one that walked away unscathed.

Last night on my way home from the studio the roads were getting slicker as I drove north. When I left the studio the roads around were perfectly fine, it was only raining at that point. As I drove I saw clearing skies and I thought the roads would be fine. I was wrong. The parkway, as I drove north, were getting increasingly worse. Traffic was going slow, with everyone being cautious. Around mile marker 68, things quickly changed.

I was driving along when a State Police SUV came from a cut out and drove across all three lanes to the right hand shoulder. Everyone slowed down even more and moved out of the right lane when we came upon a car that was at the bottom of the sloped ground on the right side. The cop car came to a stop in the shoulder near the car that had slid down the side of the slope.

I slowed down and moved to the left lane so that the car on the right of me could move over for the cop. That is when things went bad.

My car hit a very slick spot on the road and shot my car to the left into the guardrail. This wasn't a slow slide out, things moved fast. The driver side of my car hit the guardrail and my side airbag was deployed. My car then ricocheted off of that guardrail and sent me spinning across the parkway. I was very, very lucky no other car hit me as I spun. The back driver side of my car hit the guardrail on the opposite side and my car stopped facing backwards on the right side shoulder.

My car door wouldn't open all of the way, the police had to yank and bend it open. I could not take my keys out of the ignition. My horn/alarm kept going off. The car smelled weird from the airbag. Without that airbag going off my head would've banged hard into my driver side window. Without my seat belt I would've went flying around the car.

TSM Chelsea Corrine
TSM Chelsea Corrine
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I am writing this as a warning to other drivers. No matter how cautious you are driving, things happen that are out of your control. Do not drive if you do not absolutely have to. Always, always wear your seat belt. Without my seat belt or the airbag I would've walked away with much more than a sore shoulder and neck.

I want to say thank you to the amazing people I came in contact with yesterday. Thank you to the Garden State Parkway worker who came to my aid within moments of the accident. Thank you to the New Jersey State Police for keeping me safe and getting me out of the car. Thank you to the EMTs who brought me safely to the hospital. Thank you to Southern Ocean Medical Center for getting me in and out quickly.

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