Over the past few days, I've been numbed by shock and flooded with relief, almost at the same time.

On Thursday night, mere minutes after the boy had left his weekly singing rehearsal, a tractor-trailer driver changed lanes without checking and sideswiped the boy's Camry. The boy said that it all happened so fast that he really did not know what had hit him.

The impact caused the right rear tyre to burst and the car went into several spins. When he finally came to a stop, the car was facing in the opposite direction, into oncoming traffic.

Luckily (and, considering how people normally tailgate, miraculously!) the rest of the traffic was far enough away to stop in time.

Luckily there were witnesses, including one of the guys who sings with the boy and who had left rehearsal just seconds after him. He immediately stopped to help.

Luckily my boy is a calm sort, because if he had panicked and jerked at the steering wheel, the car most certainly would've rolled over.

Luckily the truck driver stopped.

Luckily no one was injured.

As for the car, the damage is still being assessed, but honestly, this is the least of our worries. We are just so unbelievably grateful, because it could've been so much worse.

You see, in a chilling coincidence, just a few miles away and at almost exactly the same time as the boy's accident happened, another semi collided with another car. Heartbreakingly, the driver of that car didn't make it out alive.

I tend to get a bit melodramatic about these things, because in South Africa, I stood by as two boyfriends - one when I was in high school, and another when I was in college - were left comatose for weeks after almost being killed in road accidents. One was left disabled for life.

So I know exactly how lucky we are.

Please drive safely, everyone!