No, this is not one of those thread titles to catch your attention and then its a gotcha moment. No, I really did almost get killed today, just a few hours ago as I am writing this. Missed getting hit head on by a drunk by mere feet and seconds. No injury, no damage to the car....for me...others not so lucky.
For work I do a lot of intown driving, probably drive 40 hours a week just for work related stuff. I was driving along a 2 lane highway (45 mph speed zone, all of us were doing 42..I know this because we were behind a particularly slow driver so I was watching the dial and the guy ahead of me). So I am cruising along at 42, trying to be patient... The truck must have turned off or something, because the next thing I see is NOT the tailgate of the truck, but the FRONT end of a white van 3/4 of the way in my lane coming from the opposite direction! I swerved into a thankfully wide shoulder, managed to miss any street signs and poles and ditches. (so no damage to me or my car) Meanwhile I watch in my rearview mirror in horror as the van clips another car, then plows head on into an SUV. The SUV (or SUV type, hard to tell it was so mangled) flips over on its top and is crushed...air bags went off.... The people in the first car that got hit (the ones directly behind me) were all OK..., except for a bump on the little girls head. The car will likely be repairable. I talked with both the driver and his wife and daughter. They will be fine. As for the passengers in the SUV, I dont know how many were in that car. I heard a female voice in the front coming from amidst the air bags near the ground. I eventually seen paramedics working on someone out the back gate of the SUV and another talking to whoever was in front. It was bad....really really bad...glass and automotive fluids and car parts all over the road. Police, ambulances, fire trucks, paramedics from 2 towns converged on the accident scene within minutes. My call to 911 was apparently not the only one (and it initially went to the wrong county, so I had to be transferred to the right county department...by that time, they had other reports and responders on the way).
The driver of the van, meantime, was staggering around out of his driver side door. I dont know for certain if he was drunk, high, just in shock, or all of the above. He looked rough either way and not in his right mind. His van was one of those you see that is stacked full of shit to the windows..all the way to the windshield...only room for the driver. As he got out, he was complaining about a possible broken hand or arm. I asked him "Is thatall? A broken arm? Any neck or back pain?" He said, "no". Once I knew it was a minor injury, that is when I lit into him. I told him "Get your ass away from the van NOW! Fuel is leaking out of it". He was either looking for something or trying to hide something, I dont know what. He started complaining about his arm again and I told him "Look, if you dont sit your ass in the grass right here (pointing to a spot 20ft away), you are going to have something more than your arm broken." Onlookers were quite pleased with this. (I didnt realize until later that there were any onlookers) I was in tunnel vision battle mode. I was ready to kick that guys ass..and that was before I knew the extent of the injuries/deaths he had caused. He started all "yes siring" me. GOOD, I hope I scared the hell out of him. He was certain that I would make good on my threat of additional bodily harm. I made sure that idiot sat in that spot until the cops came. If he would have so much as twitched I would have knocked him out. (The cops heard me say this to him by the way...and thanked me quite nicely for not letting him wonder off. They will do blood tests at the hospital to check for alcohol and drugs.) They strapped him to the ground and later a stretcher...he was the first one taken out of there....give me a needle, I'll fix him up real good.
Cops took my info and I told them call me 24/7 and if they need info or need me to testify, I will be glad to do so..he almost killed me. I will be certain to attend any trials and testify at any sentencing hearings. Especially for the families he affected, I want that bastard nailed to a wall. Last I heard, about 45 minutes after the accident, the cops were waiting for the coroner...that cant be good. Local NBC affiliate had a video guy there but no reporter at that point, so I was getting out of there, I did not want to be on TV. But I did go talk to the video guy and we chatted for a moment (before he fired up the camera...I left when he popped a tape in the unit). You know what the first thing the video guy asked? yep... "Is anyone dead?" Just like that....real deadpan, no emotion, just business like, matter-of-fact. I wanted to scream at him, but I realized he has probably been to so many accidents a person has to cocoon themselves or go crazy. At the time he asked, I told him no..no one dead so far, but it wouldnt have surprised me if there was....and eventually it turned out someone has died. I will find out more later hopefully.
I had parked farther up the road to avoid being caught in the eventual law enforcement traffic jam. I ended up directing traffic for about an hour..the cops let me be..one less thing for them to worry about...I was actually only a few hundred feet up the road from the impact, but it was in another jurisdiction...both sets of cops knew what I was doing. A neighbor was letting people use his field to turn around in....so I was working on that, blocking traffic so that people could turn around (I knew that Convention Parking assignment would one day come in handy .) I was so shook up myself, I knew I was not going to be able to continue working, even though I still had a couple of hours left. I did not want to go home yet, and I did not want to hear about a secondary accident because of people turning around and hitting each other....so I directed traffic...After about 90 min traffic was slowing down and I finally left.
What in the world? Why do people think they can get in a car, van, truck or other 2 ton + piece of machinery and can hurdle 40-70 mph at people with mere feet separating them in most cases and think they can drink or take drugs and nothing happen! Why? Because people dont think, thats why. Even myself, I talk on a stupid cell phone..sometimes I use my hands free headset, sometimes not..but I see people text messaging each other. (There were young ones in my old congo who were notorious for this, they "touch typed" while driving!) Me, I dont text, and I dont dial while driving..I pull over and dial before driving....but really, it is still distracted driving....and many of us do it....and it is stupid.
So now I am home telling this story to you all now....and thanking .... who? what? for my good fortune that I did not die today... jehovah? god? who? I dont believe in fate, and I am not sure about god. Even if I did 100% believe in God, I never did believe that he/she/it micromanaged our lives and caused/did not cause accidents, etc. You know who I thank for being alive right now? ME..for having damn good reflexes and the presence of mind to not be talking on a phone and being aware of my surroundings and knowing where to swerve at the last minute so as to not get hit and die...ME thats who I thank!!!!
I hope this story is a reminder to each of us how precious life is and a reminder not to do stupid things while we drive. We joke about beer on this board, drinking alot at times...and at home or if you are not driving....do as you please.....but please please please....dont drink and drive...and keep the cell phone stuff to a minimum.....the next time it could be YOU.
so there you have it....a non JW snake story....and a damn true one...and if the accident makes the news, I'll let you know if there is a link on the web (this is on the Private threads, but any lurkers that are registered might put 2 and 2 together and figure me out...oh well.) It was the NBC news affiliate that was on the scene..their link is: http://www.ksdk.com/ They have a newscast at 10pm CDT US. Often they show footage on the web later.
SnakesInTheTower (of the "STAYING HOME NOW, going to find a good bottle of wine and curl up now with CoC" Sheep Class)