At 6:04pm, I got a call from my friend Mark Waltz. He says, "I've been in a 4-car pile-up...can you come get me?" He's breathing hard--sounds different. He tells me the intersection--I'm 5 minutes away.

That's when I got a little nervous. It is the cross-section of a major divided highway that is 55mph and a small, but busy cross-road. When I arrived, traffic was backed up a long way and there were emergency vehicles everywhere. I could quickly see Mark's battered car in the ditch beside the road. In the intersection were three more vehicles, two of them pretty messed up.

Mark was in the ambulance being treated, so I began to clear out his car of all his personal belongings. It seemed clear to me his car wouldn't be going anywhere except behind a tow truck.

When I finally saw Mark, he was breathing heavily and walking slowly. It seems the seat belt and air bags did their job, and he is very bruised where the seatbelt crossed his side and chest. He informed me he had no plans of going to the hospital to get checked out. I said, "Okay Dr. Waltz" and took him home.

Mark could have been killed tonight. I'm glad he's home resting, although very sore.

Update 3/20 6:30am: After the 17th person told him he should go to the hospital, Mark went and found he had four broken ribs and internal bruising. He's recuperating at home.