Knock on wood, I've never been in a car accident. At least not one
with devastating results. I've slid on ice and wound up in the ditch two times (which is better than sliding on ice and winding up on top of someone's hood) and once, when I was in high school, as my mother pulled up in the bus loop to drop
me off, we were rear-ended by another mother dropping her son off. The physical jolt of that impact was remarkable, given the lady was only going about five miles per hour, but happily, no damage to human or vehicle.
For all the many miles I've driven over the last 27 years, I am fortunate never to have crossed paths with another vehicle in motion.
For all the many miles I've driven over the last 27 years, I am fortunate never to have crossed paths with another vehicle in motion.
Part of this, I
must say, is my own doing. I think I'm a pretty good driver. I'm not a leadfoot, I stay aware of my surroundings, don't take unnecessary risks or make overly aggressive moves, never drive while under the influence, etc. Smart and/or defensive
driving has managed to keep me safe.
In fact, I can say truthfully that defensive driving once saved my life. Many years ago, my then-girlfriend, her infant son and I were driving west along U.S. Highway 2. We had just crossed the Michigan border into Wisconsin, headed home on a bright winter afternoon. It was cold, but both skies and roads were perfectly clear.
As we cruised along, a large pick-up appeared in the distance, approaching at a fast rate of speed. When it got within about two-thousand feet, it suddenly veered into our lane, and stayed there.
It took a moment for me to realize what was happening. I sat up straight and reaffirmed my grip on the steering wheel with a tense uncurling and curling of my fingers. The truck hadn't just drifted over slowly, and it wasn't passing anyone (there were no other cars for it to pass). It had simply switched lanes and was headed straight at us. A dead-on, head-on collision.
My instinct (in the fraction of a second that fate allowed me to think about it) was to stay the course, wait for him to correct what obviously was a mistake. He was going to switch
back into his lane eventually...er, right...??? Of course he was! People don't drive in the wrong lane against oncoming traffic! Sheesh! There has to be a reason for this, and he'll figure it out. Give him a second...
But he didn't figure it out, and it quickly became clear he didn't want to. He just kept coming straight on, as though that two-lane highway was really four lane, and we were the ones traveling in the wrong direction. I had no choice but to slam my brakes and veer onto the shoulder. He actually moved with me for a second, toward the shoulder, but at the very last possible moment, veered back to his lane and sailed past.
It was a big black pick-up, with a lift kit and Michigan plates. I can only assume it was full of teenagers, and the driver thought it would be funny to try running someone off the road. Even now, so many years later, that explanation seems extreme (I'm not generally inclined to cry conspiracy, or foul...), but I simply can't think of any other reason for that to have happened. He stayed in our lane too long, too purposefully, for it to be just a drunk driver weaving back and forth, or a case of inattentive driving.
But he didn't figure it out, and it quickly became clear he didn't want to. He just kept coming straight on, as though that two-lane highway was really four lane, and we were the ones traveling in the wrong direction. I had no choice but to slam my brakes and veer onto the shoulder. He actually moved with me for a second, toward the shoulder, but at the very last possible moment, veered back to his lane and sailed past.
It was a big black pick-up, with a lift kit and Michigan plates. I can only assume it was full of teenagers, and the driver thought it would be funny to try running someone off the road. Even now, so many years later, that explanation seems extreme (I'm not generally inclined to cry conspiracy, or foul...), but I simply can't think of any other reason for that to have happened. He stayed in our lane too long, too purposefully, for it to be just a drunk driver weaving back and forth, or a case of inattentive driving.
But a big part of the fact that I've never been in an accident can also be attributed to mere luck. Driving is inherently dangerous: we are all operating 2000-plus pound missiles, often at 70-plus miles per hour, and always within the shaky parameters of rules that are intended to preserve that thin border between order and utter chaos, but are only effective if EVERYONE is following them all the time.
Something to think about before you head off to work in the morning, much less drive 14,000 miles across the country.
Frankly, the way most people drive, or conduct themselves while driving, it's amazing there aren't more accidents on any given day. (Again: knock on wood.)
Something to think about before you head off to work in the morning, much less drive 14,000 miles across the country.
Frankly, the way most people drive, or conduct themselves while driving, it's amazing there aren't more accidents on any given day. (Again: knock on wood.)
Drunk driving is an on-going problem. I imagine the strong campaign against it in the last forty years has improved the statistics somewhat, but unfortunately, I still see drunk drivers frequently: people weaving back and
forth, braking when they don't need to, slowing down, then speeding up. This really annoys me, not only because they're stupidly taking the lives of everyone around them into their hands when they do this (to speak nothing of their own lives), but because
I've always been really good about not drinking and driving. When I was a
younger man and partied a lot more, I made it a point to NOT drive, and would either call a taxi or walk my drunken self home rather than get behind the wheel. Beyond the possibility of dying, or killing someone else, I simply didn't want to spend the night in jail, didn't want to pay a bunch of fines, or, God forbid, see my driver's license revoked. But mostly, I never, ever deluded myself into thinking that I was "okay" to drive. I knew I wasn't, and I never had anything to prove. And so I stumbled home in rain, snow, ice and thunder.
High driving is
another real concern, and more insidious than drunk driving, truth be told. As pot becomes less taboo, more socially acceptable,
people think nothing of smoking WHILE they're driving, as assuredly as they think nothing of showing up to work high, whereas they wouldn't dream of showing up to work drunk. In my line of work, I have to deal with that every single day: the perception that because the effects of weed are generally milder than alcohol, it's okay to do things after you've smoked that you wouldn't if you've been drinking. But don't kid yourself. You're not capable of operating a motor vehicle when you've been smoking weed; you're just not. And the people who hope to see marijuana legalized in their state (or in the country) someday are not helping the cause by acting irresponsibly and recklessly.
Even more
dangerous still: texting while driving. And to this end, I'm amazed any of us have survived. Unfortunately, EVERYONE texts and drives, or messes around with their phone while they're switching lanes at the very least. Nearly every car I pass, or get passed by, is being driven by someone with their nose stuck in their phone. I see more texting drivers than drunk drivers these days. They may not be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, but they are under the influence of the delusion that some inconsequential piece of information, a bread crumb from the pantry of their life - or the 70 mph selfie they've just taken - is worth sharing, and more absurdly, MUST be shared immediately.
I can't say I've never checked or used my phone while I was driving on the highway. But I don't do it anymore. And I never attempt to type out texts to people. I pull over if I really have something important to say (usually I don't), or use text-speak.
And one thing I never do is use my phone when I'm driving in the city. I leave it the hell alone, and concentrate on the ebb and flow of traffic around me. If only all drivers were so vigilant. I can't tell you how many times I've been stopped at lights and watched in my rear-view as a car races up behind me, at which time I'm offered a glimpse of the driver's head tilted downward, looking at his phone as he screeches to a stop within inches of my rear bumper. That's especially unnerving because there's nothing I can do. One of these days, he (or she) isn't going to brake in time, and no amount of "defensive driving" will help. The only thing I'll be able to do is brace for impact.
I can't say I've never checked or used my phone while I was driving on the highway. But I don't do it anymore. And I never attempt to type out texts to people. I pull over if I really have something important to say (usually I don't), or use text-speak.
And one thing I never do is use my phone when I'm driving in the city. I leave it the hell alone, and concentrate on the ebb and flow of traffic around me. If only all drivers were so vigilant. I can't tell you how many times I've been stopped at lights and watched in my rear-view as a car races up behind me, at which time I'm offered a glimpse of the driver's head tilted downward, looking at his phone as he screeches to a stop within inches of my rear bumper. That's especially unnerving because there's nothing I can do. One of these days, he (or she) isn't going to brake in time, and no amount of "defensive driving" will help. The only thing I'll be able to do is brace for impact.
I can't say whether there are actually more accidents these days than in the past, but I have noticed - just in the last five years - that more often than not, accidents that get reported on the news are caused by one vehicle "crossing the center line". For that reason, when I'm on a highway, I instinctively hug the shoulder. I've gotten into the habit of assuming the driver of the approaching vehicle is texting (or who knows, might try to run me off the road...) and could accidentally cross the center line at any moment. Evasive maneuver has become SOP.
Couple this with
the normal human driving behaviors that have plagued our roadways since Henry Ford first made
his horseless carriage available to the masses, and it's a truly dangerous world we make our way in:
The overly aggressive driver, the impatient jerk, who MUST be first in line, the first to turn, the first to go, and insists on driving 85 in
a 55 zone (or 55 in a 35).
The driver who may not be impaired, may not be texting, but just doesn't seem to know how to properly operate his vehicle. The one who accelerates like an Indy 500 driver, brakes like he's about to go over an embankment...makes sloppy lane changes without signalling...seemingly unable to absorb the rhythm of traffic. It would seem, there are definitely some people who shouldn't have a driver's license.
And let us not forget those who drive too slow, the Sunday drivers. I'm not a leadfoot, but I
do insist everyone drive the speed limit.
And semi drivers. Most are very courteous, to be sure, but too many are pressured to make time, especially the OTR drivers. They drive too fast for conditions, bounce in an out of lanes, around other vehicles, don't get adequate rest between runs, all in a mad dash to get where they're going as quickly as possible.
And every May and every August, at least in the Midwest, there is the onslaught of farm equipment plugging up roadways, some gargantuan, Star Wars-looking mechanical creature chugging along a county trunk at 10 or 12 miles per hour, with a string of 10 or 12 vehicles pooled up behind it. It's difficult to see around, near impossible to pass, and possesses the unique ability to turn me into the "overly aggressive driver", the "impatient jerk"...
Yes, it's a big bad world out there on our highways and byways. Driving 14,000 miles through it all is almost tempting fate.
But I can't wait to take that risk.
The overly aggressive driver, the impatient jerk, who MUST be first in line, the first to turn, the first to go, and insists on driving 85 in
a 55 zone (or 55 in a 35). The driver who may not be impaired, may not be texting, but just doesn't seem to know how to properly operate his vehicle. The one who accelerates like an Indy 500 driver, brakes like he's about to go over an embankment...makes sloppy lane changes without signalling...seemingly unable to absorb the rhythm of traffic. It would seem, there are definitely some people who shouldn't have a driver's license. And let us not forget those who drive too slow, the Sunday drivers. I'm not a leadfoot, but I
do insist everyone drive the speed limit. And semi drivers. Most are very courteous, to be sure, but too many are pressured to make time, especially the OTR drivers. They drive too fast for conditions, bounce in an out of lanes, around other vehicles, don't get adequate rest between runs, all in a mad dash to get where they're going as quickly as possible. And every May and every August, at least in the Midwest, there is the onslaught of farm equipment plugging up roadways, some gargantuan, Star Wars-looking mechanical creature chugging along a county trunk at 10 or 12 miles per hour, with a string of 10 or 12 vehicles pooled up behind it. It's difficult to see around, near impossible to pass, and possesses the unique ability to turn me into the "overly aggressive driver", the "impatient jerk"...Yes, it's a big bad world out there on our highways and byways. Driving 14,000 miles through it all is almost tempting fate.
But I can't wait to take that risk.
