My Brush With Death
May. 12th, 2008 08:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rorqualThere I was, driving down 95 this morning, in the pouring rain, doing a quite reasonable 60 in the far left lane. There was a guy in front of me (let's call him...Plaintiff), but in front of him there was nobody. Typically, in the rain, I'd rather be in front of folks than behind them (actually, that's true all the time), so I decide I'm going to pass. There's another guy coming up in the lane to the right (let's call him Defendant), and he's about to pass Plaintiff, so I figure I will follow after.
So, up comes Defendant, and he passes, and I drop over behind Defendant (who is now between Plaintiff and a white van I won't name), and prepare to follow him past Plaintiff. When I do that, I realize that Defendant is throwing a ton of water up behind him, and making it hard to see, so I ease off the gas and drop back a bit more.
And then Defendant's taillights disappear. And then, faster than you could imagine it happening, Defendant spins sideways and t-bones Plaintiff, right in the lane in front of me. Thankfully, there was nobody to my right, and I slip over quick behind the van and blow on by, as Defendant and Plaintiff depart the highway, stage left. Had I stayed behind Plaintiff, I would have hit one or both of them, going about 60 in the rain.
That was my morning. Hope yours was better than mine, or at least better than Plaintiff's!
So, up comes Defendant, and he passes, and I drop over behind Defendant (who is now between Plaintiff and a white van I won't name), and prepare to follow him past Plaintiff. When I do that, I realize that Defendant is throwing a ton of water up behind him, and making it hard to see, so I ease off the gas and drop back a bit more.
And then Defendant's taillights disappear. And then, faster than you could imagine it happening, Defendant spins sideways and t-bones Plaintiff, right in the lane in front of me. Thankfully, there was nobody to my right, and I slip over quick behind the van and blow on by, as Defendant and Plaintiff depart the highway, stage left. Had I stayed behind Plaintiff, I would have hit one or both of them, going about 60 in the rain.
That was my morning. Hope yours was better than mine, or at least better than Plaintiff's!
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no subject
Date: 2008-05-13 12:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-13 12:43 am (UTC)Yes, I was lucky - that's my second near-miss during my drive to work, on a rainy day. Which only serves to confirm that a) I am a good driver, and b) everyone else is dangerous!
no subject
Date: 2008-05-13 12:50 am (UTC)We take one car to work - he drops me off in Owings Mills and then continues to Ellicott City - so I don't have to worry about the driving.
:)
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Date: 2008-05-13 11:09 am (UTC)You know it is stories like this that make me glad that my commute is (a) a walk or (b) a train. Though trains to London are their own special hell a lot of the time.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-13 12:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-13 12:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-13 02:44 pm (UTC)