Now I realize that people make mistakes while driving, I get it. Accidents happen, that's why they're called "accidents". I know that I'm certainly not perfect when it comes to driving, though I do try to do my best. However when you go about deliberately and not only endanger yourself abut others driving on the road, you need your head examined.
I'm significantly calmer than I was last night, so I'm also more coherent than I would otherwise be had I tried to write this last night. There is also going to be significantly less swearing than there was last night.
It was late, almost 9pm, and as we all know, it's pretty dark these days. The kids and I had just finished grocery shopping and were heading home. There were 2 left hand turn lanes, we were in the outside lane and had just turned onto Bangerter Highway. After we turned, we signaled to get into the far right lane as the van next to us was also changing lanes, moving into the middle lane. This is when the drama started. Apparently the van didn't notice that there was a car in their blind spot. It's a common mistake, I know that I've certainly made it. The guy in the car honked to warn the van, which makes total sense, but instead of letting it go, it became on of the most ridiculous incidents of road rage I've ever seen.
Again, remember, this is dark, we're going about 50 miles per hour and I'm on the other side of this whole thing, just a few feet away.
The guy in the car cut off the person in the left hand lane and sped up so that he was traveling the same speed as the van. He drove like that for several moments, during which time I was less than a car length behind the van and was passing. Suddenly the guy in the car once again spend up, cutting off the van as he moved back into the middle lane. Then slammed on his breaks and literally stopped in the middle of the road, right in front of the van.
When the car did that, I was right next to the van.
What would have happened if the van had to swerve to miss the idiot who had decided to completely stop in the middle of the road, in the dark, because he was mad?
Well chances are, the van would have swerved and there would have been a better than 75% chance that we would have been hit, we were that close. Seconds later, I passed the car and in my rear view mirror, I could see the car stopped in the middle lane, right in front of the van with cars quickly backing up behind him. A few seconds after that, as I was coming up on the next red light, I could see the car and the van moving again. The van had pulled into the right turn lane and I watched as the car started to pull into the left turn lane, when he once again decided to change lanes and cut across three lanes of traffic and started following the van again as it turned the corner. My light turned green and the last thing I saw as I drove past was the car once again driving side by side with the van. The whole incident happened in less than 2 minutes, from the time it us to get from one light to the next. It happened so fast that I wasn't even able to call the police.
And that's when I lost it and started swearing like a sailor in front of my poor children.
I've been in enough car accidents, the most recent of which was being in a head on collision with a drunk driver. Thankfully my kids weren't in that accident, but last night was a different story.
My children were in that car. They are the most important people in my life and because some idiot couldn't keep his temper in check, they were in danger last night. Change just one moment and things could have been significantly different.
Last night was a great reminder that we may be doing all that we can be doing to be safe, but there people out there who aren't and life can change in a heartbeat. So this holiday season, don't drink and drive. Find someone to give you a ride, get a designated driver, whatever. Be safe, because you don't want to be responsible for irreparably changing the lives of others.
Remember, driving is a privilege, not a right!
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