Most days, my hours at work go from 11:30 AM to 8 PM.
When I first started in the middle of July, the sun was still up when I left in the evening. Each day, though, it’s been darker and darker when I leave the building.
Last night, I left the parking lot around 8:20. It was getting pretty dark by that time.
About a half mile after I turned on highway 64, I came up behind a car that was driving about 40 miles an hour — in a 55 mph speed zone. I knew I wouldn’t be behind him long because I would be getting on the interstate at Exit 78, which was just ahead.
He started hitting his brakes and I realized he was probably in an unfamiliar area looking for something.
His turn signal came on and I realized what he was looking for.
I started flashing my high beams on and off at him.
“Don’t turn there, fool! You really don’t want to turn there!”
He started to turn anyway. He probably thought I was some crazy person, flashing my high beams at him like that.
I pushed down on the horn and held it down and continued to flash my lights, while hitting my brakes to allow him to swing back into my lane — if he got my message.
“DON’T TURN THERE, FOOL! THAT’S THE OFF RAMP! YOU’LL BE GOING THE WRONG WAY!
He was almost all the way across the other lane of traffic when he jerked his wheel back to the right and turned away from the east bound exit from the interstate. After getting back into the correct lane of traffic, he drove just a little bit further and turned at the right point to get to the Exit 78 east bound entrance to the freeway.
The interchange at Exit 78 is rather unusual. When it was originally constructed, there was only an east bound exit and a west bound entrance. The east bound exit went right to the highway, while the west bound entrance had a different access point from the highway and had an overpass.
When a west bound exit and an east bound entrance was added a few years back, they were tied in to the old west bound ramp and overpass.
It can be confusing.
The guy I was following last night was obviously unfamiliar with the area. He probably had gotten off on the previous exit and was following the highway, looking for a way to get back on. He thought he had found it when he saw vehicles at the exit waiting for traffic to clear.
He was wrong… and lucky.
I’ve only turned down one way roads a couple of times that I can remember. Last year, I almost turned on to the west bound off ramp of Exit 78. The “new” on ramp is where the old turn was for a road paralleling the interstate that I sometimes use on my way home.
Have you ever made a turn and went the wrong way on a “one-way?”
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
You’re a good Samaritan.
Never happened to me, and I hope it never will.
.-= Vered – Blogger for Hire´s last blog ..Back To School =-.
Mike the good citizen! I’ve made every wrong turn known to mankind.
.-= Dot´s last blog ..Comment on Summer Joys by Dot =-.
Don’t remind me of that nightmare! Yes, I did once and almost got myself killed. And this was on the German Autobahn!! For one, I was driving a left hand drive car on the right side of the road! In India it is all exactly the opposite!!
.-= Rummuser´s last blog ..The London and Sibling Rajgopauls. =-.
Good for you for warning him. Yes, just the other day I went the wrong way, but it wasn’t serious. The funniest time it happened to us was when my husband and I were leaving the parking lot after flying back from visiting my daughter in Scotland. We had rented a car there and my husband had been worried about driving on the opposite side of the road, but he had no trouble at all…until we left the parking lot back here in the States. When he made the left turn we saw all those headlights coming right towards us and made a quick retreat.
.-= Jean Browman–Cheerful Monk´s last blog ..Is It Possible to Be Overly Generous? =-.
No, I’ve never driven on the wrong side of the road. Perfect me, but I don’t drive much & not at night, except around town. I fear someone will come at me on the wrong side of the road.
I knew a woman & her daughter who were killed that way.
Then there’s a famous case here in NM where a man killed a family of five.
I did and fortunately I was able to get to the other end without encountering another vehicle.
We’ve been having a rash of head on collisions here in Texas, folks driving DUI in the middle of the night killing nearly everyone in both vehicles. It has happened about 5-6 times this summer alone.
.-= Debo Hobo´s last blog ..Flying High Friday-Parasailing =-.
I once unintentionally did a 180 on an on ramp in snow conditions. The person in front of me decided to come to a complete stop rather than just yielding. I wasn’t expecting it and when I tapped the brakes, my car spun out I ended up with my front end facing the guardrail and my back end almost in the slow lane of traffic. Fortunately, traffic was light, I was able to right myself and because of the amount of snow on the guardrail, there was no damage to my car. Now I drive a 4 wheel drive and have none of those “positraction” rear end problems.
It really is hard sometimes to communicate with another driver to help them out sometimes. There should be some universal signaling that we devise to do it.
.-= teeni´s last blog ..Too Asinine for Words Really =-.
Oh, and by universal signaling, I meant above and beyond the already all-too-well-known flipping the bird gesture. LOL.
.-= teeni´s last blog ..Too Asinine for Words Really =-.