Wareham resident Jillian Yates was less than a mile from home when she and another car collided on Sandwich Road outside Nessralla Farmstand and Greenhouse on the morning of Friday, July 26.

Yates, 27, said she drives up Sandwich Road, “nearly every day.”

“I was driving and there was no car in front of me, and suddenly there was a car in front of me,” she said. 

It is unclear which car, if any, was at fault in this crash. According to the Wareham Police Department, they have no further information about the crash which slowed traffic in both directions on Sandwich Road. 

The front end of Yates’ car, a 2016 Toyota Corolla she named “Lil’ Sicily,” was almost completely destroyed. The other car involved in the crash, a white Toyota RAV4, had some damage to its front passenger side wheel.

According to Yates, the airbags deployed and hit her in the face. “My schnoz got most of it,” she said.

Chatter on the Wareham Police Department scanner frequency indicated that the driver of the Toyota RAV 4, whose identity is not known at this time, had no injuries and declined medical treatment.

Yates was brought to Tobey Hospital around 11:30 a.m. for “precautionary” tests including X-rays, CT scans and other checkups, and was discharged a few hours later.

“I’m feeling OK, shook up but OK,” she said.

But according to Yates, it was the people of Wareham who made a bad day better.

After the crash, said Yates, she left her car and was immediately helped by a man and woman she did not know. In the chaos, she didn’t get the good samaritans’ names.

“It was nice to have people there who were very calm, and very nice,” said Yates, from the Tobey Hospital emergency room. “I was shaking like a leaf — I was obviously very stressed and scared — it was nice to have someone there for me.”

Allie Nessralla, of Nessralla Farmstand, said the two people who helped Yates were farmstand customers. “Our customers help each other here,” she said.

Yates added that first responders on the scene also kept her in good spirits.

“The first responders were super nice,” she said. “They were cracking jokes to help lighten the mood — they could tell I was pretty shook up.”

And although “Lil’ Sicily” will need a major facelift, Yates said “things could’ve been worse.”

“Who knew the people in Wareham were so nice?” she said.