4:25 PM PT -- Karen Huger tells TMZ … "Thank you all for your prayers and well wishes during this very frightening experience. I am still in shock from last nights incident, but grateful to be alive today. With the  passing of my Beloved Mother, Grief comes and goes in waves, and with Mothers Day approaching it has felt more like a tsunami."

She adds, "Last night I met a girlfriend for dinner, we talked and brought up some very emotionally sensitive topics. I was crying on my way home and saw a car heading right for me. I swerved to avoid the head-on collision, hit the divider and then a tree. I'm hurt, bruised up a bit, but so grateful I am alive! I did receive citations, one of which was unrelated to the incident which is understandable, but what was most surprising is that the car that almost hit me just drove away!"

Karen finishes by saying, "I would like to stress, it’s important to understand your emotional state when driving and may this be a reminder to all to use their seatbelts, my Mother may be my Guardian Angel but the seatbelt saved my life."

Karen Huger was involved in a scary crash this week ... with officers telling us she wrecked her car so badly, it was no longer operable.

A representative for Montgomery County Police tells TMZ ... the 'Real Housewives of Potomac' star was driving a 2017 Maserati late Tuesday night in Potomac, Maryland in what they describe as an aggressive manner -- too fast for the conditions, they say.

Police say Huger struck a median and crosswalk sign at an intersection before continuing on and colliding with a parking sign off the roadway where the car came to a rest.

We're told the airbag deployed in the car but no other passengers were in her vehicle. No word on whether she or anyone else was injured.

The car itself was allegedly damaged so badly it couldn't be driven and a tow truck was called to retrieve it ... the extent of the damage is not yet known.

Cops say KH received multiple citations -- unclear exactly what they were for at this time -- but, we're told she was not arrested.

We've reached out to Huger -- a main cast member on all eight seasons of 'RHOP' -- about the accident ... so far no word back.