A Near Miss

My wife performed one of the greatest defensive driving maneuvers I have ever witnessed last night, and it saved my family from what would have been, at the very least, most serious injury.

We were on our way to the "Y" for The Man Zachary's water acclimation class and I was telling Kim the story about a co-worker's friend whose viewing he had to attend who was killed in an auto accident Saturday evening. Someone had blown a red light, and at 7:30pm one would guess that it was due to someone not paying attention. My co-worker's friend was driving a Yukon, was hit from the side, thrown from the vehicle and killed. Not 20 seconds after I told my wife this story and asking her to promise an attempted avoidance of using her cell phone while driving, a car entered the intersection we were traveling through (blowing a red light) from right to left. Kim screamed, swerved to the left (just missing the light-blowing idiot) into oncoming traffic and managed to swerve back into our lane (narrowly avoiding oncoming traffic and a head-on collision). Had she not reacted in time, the car that blew the red light would have slammed into our passenger-side (and me) and most likely would have flipped our car into oncoming traffic. After our heart rates finally slowed down after this near-miss, it became clear to me that if Kim was on her cell phone, she would not have been able to maneuver the car in the manner necessary to keep her, Zachary and me safe.

I don't know if I am getting old, or perhaps its my protectiveness of my family that has me so rattled by how people drive nowadays. What I do know is that one of my biggest pet peeves has become one of my largest sources of anxiety. It seems to me that people are driving more and more recklessly. Driving is a dangerous enough undertaking - once you factor in how easy it is for someone to obtain a license, the slap-on-the-wrist sanctions for reckless driving, the gargantuan size of many vehicles on the road today, and the myriad distractions available to us in our vehicles - its a wonder that more of us have not lost loved ones to car accidents.

I was planning to post links for all sorts of statistical backing for my arguments, but anyone who does not believe me is free look them up themselves. The truth of the matter is that most kids are not mature enough to handle the responsibilities that come with driving. We need a stricter standard for the awarding of drivers licenses - or at the very least mandatory classes/seminars on vehicle safety that must be taken before anyone gets their license. These classes should include video or photos from car crash scenes, as evidence of what can happen when mistakes are made on the roads. We must have harsher penalties for reckless driving, speeding, running red lights and the like. All states should implement a ban on hand-held cell phone use while driving. States such as Ohio have shown a dramatic downturn in accidents since their bans have gone in place. DVD players in the back seat for passenger viewing are nice, but dashboard viewing monitors should be outlawed as well. If there is a human being alive capable of performing defensive driving maneuvers while watching a movie, I do not know of them.

People need to be reminded that driving is not a right, it is a privilege. My DUI from August of 2004 haunts me to this day. I am eternally thankful that I did not hit anyone that night. If I would have hurt anyone that night, I doubt that I would be able to live with myself. If the government would have given me a harsher penalty for my actions, I could not have complained. I was very lucky that night - and so was every other person on the road in my path.

Drivers need to be shown that getting to their destination in the fastest way possible is not the most important thing. Getting there safely, and the safety of those around them is what should be paramount. I am guilty of this at times. What is the normal reaction to those in front of us who are traveling the speed limit? More often than not, traveling behind someone exhibiting this behavior causes outrage! Trust me, I know. I am wrong for my reactions to this in the past, because it should not be this way. Speeding should not be the norm, while those traveling the speed limit be looked upon as pariahs.

Drive safely people. Keep your heads on swivels when you are out and about. The stories I have heard from co-workers, friends and neighbors of late concerning accidents and loss - combined with our near-miss last night - have opened my eyes. A vehicle can become a lethal weapon, in the blink of an eye. While you are driving, think about the people you love, how much it would hurt if you were to lose them forever - simply because someone was reckless or not paying attention.

[Currently Listening: INXS - "By My Side"]