A split second changed Deborah Carter-Bowhay’s life in a big way.

“I remember looking up and he was just right THERE,” she said. She was rounding a slight curve on State Route 105 south of Westport when a GMC Caballero driven by an Olympia man on July 2 crossed the center line and hit Carter-Bowhay’s car head-on.

“I remember bits and pieces of the crash,” she said. “I remember the sound of the crash, and how many people were there right away to check on me.”

Carter-Bowhay’s legs were broken, including a compound fracture of the tibia and fibula in her lower right leg, meaning the bones were jutting out of her skin at the ankle. Her pelvis had been shattered, she had broken ribs and arm bones. She was taken to Grays Harbor Community Hospital and stabilized before being airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

She wouldn’t see her home again for nearly three months.

“I was unable to stand for 14 weeks, from July 2 to Oct. 10,” she said. “That was a great day, and I got to go home Oct. 25.”

X-rays show most of Carter-Bowhay’s lower body is held together by steel pins. Her pelvis is now more metal than bone. There are pins in her legs and arms. And to top it all off, after enduring surgeries that would last anywhere from four to nine hours, she was just told her hip bone has become “a square peg in a round hole” and she will face surgery for that in late April.

Carter-Bowhay now requires a walker to get around. Her right leg is several inches shorter than her left. She moves slowly, with her husband, Danny, in close proximity. She had slowly been able to wean herself off the pain medication she doesn’t like taking, but the pain of the hip has forced her to revisit her pain therapy adviser.

“It’s worse than any pain I can remember,” she said. She said most days she is merely “uncomfortable,” others the pain is indescribable. “I have days when I feel pretty good, then the next day the pain will be so bad. And I never know which day is going to bring what.”

She endures physical therapy usually two or three times a week, though that amount has been cut down with her recent hip troubles. She longs for the day she can be rid of the wheelchair completely (she still needs it for longer hikes, like getting through an airport) and say goodbye to the ramp installed in front of her home. She is excited to get back to her job with the AFLAC insurance company. She resigned her long-held position as school board president because of her injuries, but remains a member of the board. She herself is a graduate of Ocosta High School, class of ‘74, and two of her children are graduates of the same school.

Her community celebrated her return in January, packing the Ocosta community center to the rafters with well-wishers. Funds were raised through ticket sales and auction items.

“It was standing-room only,” said Carter-Bowhay. “There were people there we didn’t even recognize or know, just a smorgasbord of people, classmates we hadn’t seen in 20 years, it was just an amazing day.”

Money and medical bills have been a burden as well, though Carter-Bowhay is a wise woman when it comes to finances and always had money squirreled away in case of a rainy day. Still, she has a mortgage, normal everyday expenses and, of course, hundreds of thousands in dollars of medical bills.

Adding insult to injury

To complicate matters even further, the man who caused that accident did not have insurance, putting the burden of health care and everything else squarely on Carter-Bowhay’s shoulders.

It is against the law to operate a vehicle in this state without a valid license or current insurance, but the punishment for breaking those laws amounts to little more than a slap on the wrist and leaves their victims in dire straits financially at a time they should be focusing on rebuilding their lives, said Carter-Bowhay.

According to State Trooper Russel Q. Winger, the other driver, Ralph Edward Gillispie, “was cited with an infraction for driving left of centerline and the investigation is complete.” Grays Harbor County Prosecutor Katie Svoboda said nothing has been forwarded to her office detailing additional charges.

When someone is so seriously injured by another driver who the investigation shows is clearly at fault, one may assume the offending driver would be facing charges of vehicular assault. Not necessarily, according to the prosecutor’s office. If a driver is at fault and they are under the influence of drugs or alcohol, driving recklessly or driving without regard for the safety of others they are candidates for a vehicular assault charge. If a driver simply misjudges distance while passing or drifts over the center line, they are unlikely to face charges, even if their mistake results in the death of others. If they are weaving in and out of traffic and traveling at high speeds, they might. It’s more or less a judgment call by the investigators on the scene.

Carter-Bowhay said she found out the other driver had no insurance through her own insurance company and the State Patrol, although Winger made no mention of a citation for that.

Carter-Bowhay took to social media to vent her frustration. Her “rants” — as she calls them — point out what she considers to be inadequate protections for the victims of uninsured motorists.

“There is no requirement in this state to say you can’t get tags unless you have proof of insurance,” said Carter-Bowhay. Her husband, from Oklahoma, said that shocked him to hear. In his native state, you can’t get a license or car tabs without proof of insurance, he said.

“We need to put some teeth in this law,” said Carter-Bowhay. “How do we go about doing that?”

She has reached out to Congressman Derek Kilmer, and her friends have shared her posts with other area legislators. She said the response has been underwhelming.

Her frustration grows as she describes how she would never consider driving without insurance because of the burden it puts on others.

“It only takes a second. I could make a mistake. And if I did I don’t want to put the victims in the same situation I find myself in today. When you’re driving uninsured, you are putting yourself and others at risk.”

She paused and said, “I am extremely broken. I want to walk on my own two legs again.”

As she and her husband slowly made their way to the parking lot to head to another physical therapy session, Carter-Bowhay again paused and said, “You know what? I’m extremely blessed to be alive. The area we live, everybody cares, so much love and understanding. We do lift each other up, and the support of my family has been unbelievable.

“I’m just disillusioned with the system.”