The other day I was traveling somewhere with Wee ‘Burb, and this woman pulled this spectacularly scary driving move. Two lanes were turning left. I was in the right of the two lanes, behind a woman who was very slow to turn left.
I honk.
She stops in the middle of the intersection.
I honk again.
She is still.in.the.intersection!
Five or six cars are going by in the left-most lane and she’s just sitting there. I wonder if she’s stalled, but I don’t see any signs of distress.
Before the light turns, she makes a U-turn.
A U-Turn across two lanes going left.
I was enraged. I wanted to take her license plate number. I wanted to follow her and get out and shake my fist and tell her of all the terrible things that could have resulted from her complete inattentiveness to anyone’s safety. I wanted to ask her if getting to her destination 12 seconds faster was worth risking the life of me and my child.
And I was gut-wrenchingly thrown back into a time about 15 years ago when I WAS that careless driver.
I was driving from my part-time summer job, and was late meeting people for dinner. There was a lot of traffic and I knew that I could sit quite awhile trying to make a left into the restaurant parking lot. I saw an opening and I took it, barely missing a car that was turning right from a parking lot further down. We almost collided in one of those sickening moments where you inadvertently close your eyes, sure this is death.
We were both fine.
Or so I thought.
I grabbed my purse and was two feet from the door to the restaurant when the woman in the other car pulled up. She was hugely pregnant, and had two children in the backseat. She was crying and telling me how irresponsible I was.
In my heart, all I wanted in the world was to crawl in that car and tell her how sorry I was, to hug her children and her and tell her how reckless I was, how incredibly self-absorbed I was to think getting to that restaurant sooner was worth more than her children.
That’s in my heart now.
I regret that at the time, I rolled my eyes and fought the urge to say “seriously, lady, chill the eff out!” I gave her a snotty “Sorrrrry” in the vein of a 3-year-old faux-apologizing to a child whose toy he’s just blatantly stolen. And intends to keep.
She threatened to take my license plate down and I’m like “do what you gotta do.”
The truth is, I think of this woman often. When I was pregnant, I was almost in an accident that surely would have been fatal were we not in an amazingly new rental car with incredible anti-lock brakes. I immediately though back to that moment, how just one second of inattentiveness could have changed so many lives.
I honk.
She stops in the middle of the intersection.
I honk again.
She is still.in.the.intersection!
Five or six cars are going by in the left-most lane and she’s just sitting there. I wonder if she’s stalled, but I don’t see any signs of distress.
Before the light turns, she makes a U-turn.
A U-Turn across two lanes going left.
I was enraged. I wanted to take her license plate number. I wanted to follow her and get out and shake my fist and tell her of all the terrible things that could have resulted from her complete inattentiveness to anyone’s safety. I wanted to ask her if getting to her destination 12 seconds faster was worth risking the life of me and my child.
And I was gut-wrenchingly thrown back into a time about 15 years ago when I WAS that careless driver.
I was driving from my part-time summer job, and was late meeting people for dinner. There was a lot of traffic and I knew that I could sit quite awhile trying to make a left into the restaurant parking lot. I saw an opening and I took it, barely missing a car that was turning right from a parking lot further down. We almost collided in one of those sickening moments where you inadvertently close your eyes, sure this is death.
We were both fine.
Or so I thought.
I grabbed my purse and was two feet from the door to the restaurant when the woman in the other car pulled up. She was hugely pregnant, and had two children in the backseat. She was crying and telling me how irresponsible I was.
In my heart, all I wanted in the world was to crawl in that car and tell her how sorry I was, to hug her children and her and tell her how reckless I was, how incredibly self-absorbed I was to think getting to that restaurant sooner was worth more than her children.
That’s in my heart now.
I regret that at the time, I rolled my eyes and fought the urge to say “seriously, lady, chill the eff out!” I gave her a snotty “Sorrrrry” in the vein of a 3-year-old faux-apologizing to a child whose toy he’s just blatantly stolen. And intends to keep.
She threatened to take my license plate down and I’m like “do what you gotta do.”
The truth is, I think of this woman often. When I was pregnant, I was almost in an accident that surely would have been fatal were we not in an amazingly new rental car with incredible anti-lock brakes. I immediately though back to that moment, how just one second of inattentiveness could have changed so many lives.
8 comments:
Oh wow...this is a great post. Really, the things you think about and how your priorities shift is simply amazing. I used to read stories about, babies getting sick for instance. I work in a hospital in marketing so we deal with these stories a lot. I can't even stomach it now. It's like once you have a child, you're living outside your self.
great post girl, I'm impressed that the other lady followed you and let you see how distraught she was. I think that's a big eye opener for a lot of people. Glad you were okay today!
Horrifying. That's definitely one of those moments that changes your perspective forever. Plus, today with cellphones and whatnot, it really is just frightening to be on the roads sometimes. SO glad that you and Wee 'Burb are okay.
It's really amazing how sometimes people whose names you never learned stick with you for a lifetime
Wow.. Thank you for sharing. That made me stop and think. I'm often amazed by how badly people drive, but when I'm in an impatient mood, I'm hardly any better. I've been trying to work on that lately, and this story will definitely be one that sticks in my mind. Glad you and Wee'burb are okay!
Oh my goodness, what a story. Well, at least you've learned from your mistake :) I've got plenty of stories like that and I feel really bad about them now.
How scary- I'm glad that that moment wasn't any worse for you. That poor pregnant mama- but you learned from it.
Oh wow. I have noticed now that I drive with precious cargo that I'm much more cautious as a driver. If I see someone driving like a jerk, I just let them pass me by. No need for me to compete with someone who wants to be reckless. But like you and that pregnant lady, I totally want to write down those plate numbers.
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