omg i would loveeee to hear your thoughts on the accident 👀
Okay so I know I said this in the notes on ao3 but I really want to see if people can do the math on the specific date it happened. It's actually so easy to figure out! Just pay attention to the days of the week around any of the holidays (Julien's birthday is probably the easiest because it comes first).
In terms of the actual accident, here's a lil mockup I made:
So Julien was driving and Phoebe was in the passenger seat. As they approached an intersection, Julien had an advance green arrow - which, if you're unfamiliar with traffic lights, means that people turning left are the only ones who can go; everyone else has to wait, including pedestrians. So Julien doesn't bother hitting the brake - she has right of way and everyone else (that she can see) has either stopped or is about to.
But there's a truck in the right lane, which is not in Julien's sight line and for whatever reason, doesn't stop at the red light.
In my mind, here's the (asshole) truck driver's perspective:
he's been cruising along at 60 mph without a single intersection for the last many miles, but now he's coming up on a big semi - who is not moving very fast and is also blocking his view of the upcoming intersection. The truck driver pulls into the right lane to pass and floors it to get back up to speed, not realizing that the semi is slowing because the light is already red. He misses the light because he's focused on being annoyed at the semi for going so slow, and by the time he's far enough past the semi to see the oncoming traffic, there's a car already in his path and he's going too fast to stop.
And maybe Julien could've stopped if she'd been looking at the right second, but she was shoulder-checking because that's what you're supposed to do right before you turn, and even Phoebe's shout came too late for her to do anything about it.
Anyway, the truck's impact was on the passenger side of Julien's jeep, which is why Julien walked away with only a mild concussion and a sprained wrist and Phoebe... didn't. It was ultimately not Julien's fault whatsoever.
