If I hadn’t been paying attention to the road, I could have been in a head-on collision yesterday.
I 
guess I wasn’t totally clear on what happened when I sent this text message to Karen shortly after it happened.
What I meant was “Stupid @#%$&@! van coming from the opposite direction moved into my lane – right in front of me – to make a left turn!”
I didn’t see who was driving the van. I don’t know if it was a man or a woman, old or young. All I know is that it was a big white van from a local concern and I would have hit it if I hadn’t come to a complete stop. It had moved into my lane to make a left turn like they thought it was a turning lane.
Below is a satellite image of the road where this near mishap occurred. The yellow arrow indicates my direction of travel to the east, the red that of the van to the west. Unlike a couple of the main roads, this one doesn’t have a center turning lane for most of its length through town, though there is one for a few blocks 2/3 of a mile to the east.
Most of the time, traffic in America is pretty safe. Road signs and markings are very standardized, and, except for speed limits, most people comply with roadway expectations.
Every now and again, though, someone has a mental hiccup and does something they wouldn’t normally do. For instance, several times over the years, I’ve stopped, looked both ways at an intersection, and almost proceeded while the traffic light was still red. In each of these instance, stop signs had been replaced with traffic signals, sometimes decades earlier.
An hour or so after yesterday’s near miss, just to the west on this same road, a compact car started to change lanes into the side of my truck. When I laid on my horn, the lady swerved quickly away.
Two close calls on the same day – and on the same road.
Image information: The image at the top of the page is an composite of two other images, intended for illustration only. The out-of-focus road is the same road where the described incident occurred.
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Phew, that was a close shave indeed. Did the windshield crack? A bullet hole?
Rummuser recently posted…Wrist Watches.
Sorry, no. I added a disclaimer on the page to indicate image is just an illustration.
The image at the top of the page is an composite of two other images, intended for illustration only. The out-of-focus road is the same road where the described incident occurred.
Mike recently posted…School Dreams
Wow, you were lucky not to have a serious accident! As you say, every now and again someone has a mental hiccup and does something they wouldn’t normally do. I’ve certainly done a few daft things myself when I wasn’t concentrating properly on the road ahead. Fortunately other motorists are usually on the ball and take swift action to avoid an accident.
nick recently posted…Honeymoon period
I agree. I think people making turns from or onto roads are probably the most common accidents. In the US, when turning left, you have to cross oncoming traffic flow and, if you’re not careful, could subject yourself to an accident. I suppose that, in Ireland, it would be a right turn that would cross traffic.
I saw where an accident occurred just this morning from a less-than-successful left turn. Emergency vehicles hadn’t even arrived yet, but there were plenty of good Samaritans who had stopped already, so I didn’t. A small pickup truck had been turning in to a grocery store parking lot, left-turn across traffic, and was hit by a SUV coming from the opposite direction (t-boned – a side collision). The pickup was on its side, so the collision was pretty hard.
Mike recently posted…The Week That Was – June 28th, 1969
That’s scary! I wonder if they just weren’t paying any attention at all? There’s no way that looks like a turn lane.
Danielle L Zecher recently posted…A Few Random Things
I was too startled by it to see who was driving or what their expression was. The van belongs to a company that provides transportation to aging seniors who need it.
Mike recently posted…The Week That Was – June 28th, 1969