Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Crazy Drivers

I was almost hit by a crazy driver tonight. While I am not thankful for this scary moment, I am thankful that the brakes in my car work so well. It is a dark and very rainy night here in the Seattle area, it is also windy. I was driving five children (my three and an additional two) to an event in this nasty weather and trying to be extra cautious. A car pulled out of a parking lot on my left, crossed two lanes of traffic, entered the median turn lane and began accelerating, using the median turn lane as a merge lane (like you would do when merging to get on the freeway). I was parallel to the car when this started and I thought that surely the fool would stop, seeing as how I had the right of way and was right beside them in plain view (there was enough of a distance to put me far out of any blind spot). But, no, the turn lane came to an end and the fool starting to merge right into my car! I was shaken, but not hit, rattled, but no one was hurt.

A few weeks ago I read a blog entry on my friend Snowflake's blog, she and her mother were hit by a drunk driver at around lunch time one day. Thankfully no one was badly injured. In my case I don't know if the person that I had to contend with was drunk or stupid. In the end if there is a serious accident, does it really matter? This got me thinking about all of the near misses on the roadways every day. It also got me thinking about cars and drivers and how it is amazing that there aren't more accidents. When all is said and done, it is truly a miracle that most of us get from one destination to another in our cars without getting hit by a drunkard or an idiot. I am thankful tonight for good brakes, a quick reaction, and a near miss being a miss.

2 comments:

Muhammed said...

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Megs said...

I am relieved you were all ok Karen! it is scary how close danger is. being a bad driver myself, and having had lots of accidents, i agree with you, that it's amazing we don't have more accidents.

i annoyed a woman driving a huge truck tonight, by assuming on grace she didn't have, and nosing into her stationary lane at the lights to get into my turning lane. She was SO mad - I had my two and a school friend of E's in the car, and hoped they didn't notice her beeping and gesticulating! i always worry these people will shoot me.

i learned to drive in sydney, where the driving is very offensive, sneaking in, overtaking, etc., and so sometimes my driving is not well received in 'no you! no you! no you!' seattle

love and see you soon, and i'm excited about our x-country skiing adventure! Maryam and Nathalie may be coming, Ive not heard from Monica, and I think you and Diana, who is coming, will really like each other.

love Meg