December 15, 2019 10:05 AM Burbank, CA - It was a nice sunny Sunday. I had to drive over and drop off a package at my local UPS store. Yes, it's open on Sunday. I entered the mall, drove over to the UPS Store, and parked in the row of cars in front of UPS. I was walking towards the front of the car in the photo, on the left side of it. I was paying attention, was not on my cell phone or distracted in any way. Suddenly, I tripped, tripped again, and fell. Hard.
I did NOT see the protruding curb (in red)
as it was in dark shadow. I tripped over that curb. Staggering forward, off
balance, I then tripped over the second curb (in blue). I went down hard and my
head hit the shrub (circled in aqua) and bounced off. I felt it on the top of my head.
It wasn't a trip and fall. It was a double trip. A trip trip and
fall.
The whole trip trip and fall probably
took like 2-3 seconds. I lay on the ground not moving for several minutes, to
assess my possible injuries. My right second finger had a ding and bruising and
my right hand and forearm were numb. My head throbbed a bit on the top. I
probably used my right hand and forearm and maybe my elbow (and my head) to
break the fall.
No one was around, no one came over to
see if I was OK. It was Sunday morning at about 10:10 AM.
I was able to get up (slowly) and was not
dizzy or confused. My finger hurt and my right hand and
forearm were still numb. Injured, I was still able to drop off the package at
UPS and decided to drive home directly, and carefully. On my way back to my car, I
took the picture you see. I drove past Providence St Joseph Medical Center and
thought about going to the ER for a head/brain scan but did not think it was
warranted at that time, as I had no headache, dizziness, etc. i.e. concussion,
brain injury or whatever. I got home safely.
I will continue to closely monitor my
injuries. I don’t seem have any serious injury so far but I certainly could have been hurt, or worse. I was/am VERY lucky to not have been seriously injured. Or
dead.
Just so you know, I don’t trip. I don’t fall. I can’t
remember the last time I fell. This time I blame the placement of the
vehicle curb in that parking lot, a non-wide concrete bar set way to the extreme driver's side of the parking space … plus the shadow making it difficult to see the vehicle curb sticking out (red circle).
The point of my story? Please be careful
and watch where you are walking, Even without being distracted, the world can
be a dangerous place. My trip trip and fall illustrates the point.
