Near miss

I witnessed an accident on the way to work today.  Sort of.

Heard a nasty noise while driving down the highway.  Finally localized it to the red Pontiac that was skidding, perpendicular to the road, across my lane directly behind me, and on into the ditch.

I pulled over and got out to render assistance.  I was walking back towards the scene, calling 911 on my cell-phone, when I rounded the bend – and found nothing but skid marks and the mark where the car had plowed into the embankment.  Either they tore a hole in the space-time continuum and dropped through, or they pulled right back out and drove on while I was pulling over.  I can’t imagine pulling away from an accident that quickly.  I’d at least want a few minutes to pull myself together and check my car for damage.  Strange…

Anyway, it renewed my distaste for the fact I have to drive to work every day.  It’s an unnacceptable risk which I very much hope to eliminate eventually.

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6 Comments

  1. Yup…

    And people are worried about cars when there are so many automobiles running around loose…

  2. I have had the good fortune to avoid driving to work. (I take the light rail.) Part of this was designed: While the office is fortuitously near light rail, I picked a place near light rail for the “other end” of the commute.

    I find commuting on the train (light rail or real trains, I’ve done both) wonderful. The commute offers time for relaxing, meditation, or conversation. It is a respite between the chaos in the office and the excitement at home.

    I also find that when driving, it is easy to adopt a competitive attitude: Either I or that other driver will get in front, but not both. Each car competes for space, for position, for advantage. Commuting (by bus or rail) changes the attitude. Everyone on the train is travelling together. There is no competition between me and the person sitting three rows ahead of me. (Except when getting on very crowded trains, and then the competition is for seats.)

    I wish you luck in finding a commute that meets your needs.

    1. I’m not prone to a competetive attitude, but I find driving stressful all the same. My ideal would be to work from home.

  3. Maybe they were drunk and wanted to get out of there fast. Something like that happened right near our house this summer. Someone ran the stop sign at the end of Hane road and hit the bank. Their car was in the cornfeild and made a big hole but when my parents and the neighbor got there the driver was already gone, took off through the cornfeild.

    1. I have a suspicion that something like that was the case.

  4. Consider yourself lucky that they had already gone.
    People that idiotic are good to avoid.

    My parents once had a problem with people running their rural mailbox down.
    They replaced the 4×4 wooden post with a 6 ft steel I-beam…mostly buried.
    The drunk that kept running it down came back…drunk…in his company truck.
    And once again thought the mailbox would be fun to hit.
    Dumbass actually had the nerve to come to the door to use the phone.

    Torn between concern and rage…do you help these people or start shooting?
    Hard situation for those of us who would react as you did.

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