. I'm feeling so thankful. I was almost involved in an accident last night, but I avoided it. I credit my Michelin tires and my antilock brakes for avoiding it.
I was driving home from work around 7 pm on a local highway known as Rt. 58. It's a two-lane road (one lane in either direction) and it twists and turns and is really pitch black.
I was making my way north doing about 40 mph. During the day, I do drive on it faster, but at night I worry about hitting deer all the time so I tend to go slower.
I saw the headlights of a car in the opposite lane, so I had my low beams on. I didn't know it yet, but it had come to a complete stop.
My eyes are on the road in front of me, and all of a sudden, my headlights pick up the glint of metal, and I realize, there's a car directly in front of me. But it was nearly invisible. It was almost disorienting, because I couldn't figure out why I did not see it until I was practically on top of it. I realized it was sitting perpendicular to the roadway, so I couldn't see the taillights, nor the headlights.
My first thought was that there had been an accident. And I was about ready to plow into it and make it worse. These were all my thoughts in just a few seconds' time.
I swerved to the left and jammed on the brakes. I was sure I was going to hit the car's back fender, but amazingly, my car came to a stop just INCHES from the other car, without hitting it.
I was so stunned. The 3 of us drivers, all sat there in silence for about 30 seconds. (This was also not a good idea, as I had put myself in the same position as the other car; now we were 2 cars, side by side and both of us perpendicular...and invisible... blocking both sides of the highway.) I was just trying to recover from the shock. Then the other driver pulled out, and I followed.
I realize now what happened. The other driver had backed out of a residential driveway onto the highway. Really not a smart move at any time, and much less so in the dark, on a rural highway with no streetlights.
Inexplicably, the car had stopped in the middle of the road and was blocking both lanes. Maybe they weren't familiar with the driveway or couldn't see where it ended in the dark, but instead of turning the wheel as they backed out, they just pulled straight out. Then maybe when they saw my headlights approach, they stopped. Which IMO, was really stupid, because as mentioned, they were practically invisible in that position on the road.
Aside from really wanting to know what caused the driver to do this (was it a teenager? An older driver? Something else?) I am so relieved I'm okay. I actually wrenched my shoulder just from yanking the wheel left as quickly as I did. Even going just 40 mph.
If I had been driving any faster, I doubt I would have been able to stop.
In other news, the IRS deposited my $1484 refund in my checking account...nice.
A really close call
February 22nd, 2018 at 12:32 pm
February 22nd, 2018 at 01:23 pm 1519305785
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February 22nd, 2018 at 09:25 pm 1519334755
Those multi-crash pile-ups are VERY scary.
February 23rd, 2018 at 12:58 am 1519347536
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