Shaken Up

For a second or two today, I was afraid I was going to kill a man.

It was snowing again. The roads were snow-packed and hazardous. I was driving slowly and cautiously. Approaching an intersection, I noticed a vehicle that looked like he was not going to be able to stop. I moved over into the left lane (for oncoming traffic, of which there was none), thinking he was going to manage to stop partway into the intersection. But he kept coming further into the intersection. I was too close to the corner to be able to slow down enough to avoid hitting him as he went right through his stop sign. As he started into the intersection, he seemed to be unable to get the traction he needed, and I thought I was going to hit the driver. But then his tires grabbed and he began to move faster, so his truck was in the left lane and the snowmobile trailer was in the right lane (my lane) and there was nowhere for me to go but the ditch.

I'd slowed down enough and managed to keep control so that, when I steered to veer around him, I didn't do donuts. I didn't roll the car. I just slid (relatively gently) off the road into the ditch, taking out the stop sign, and hit the telephone pole. The van is pretty dented up, and the back window exploded. But there are no bruises, no cuts, no broken bones. And hopefully no mechanical damage to the van.

I didn't hit him. I didn't hurt him. And I didn't smash my front end into his vehicle, which would've done a lot more damage to my car than what actually panned out. So I guess, given how bad it might've been to have a car pull out right in front of me, things turned out pretty well.

The booger is that three people have to be at work on Monday, and we're down to two cars. Philip's is in the shop, apparently in need of an alternator. Right now, with circumstances as they are, we just have too many people going in too many directions (and a long way in those directions) to be grounded due to non-operational vehicles.

The thing I am very thankful for is the kindness of the man who caused the accident. He was very concerned to make sure I wasn't injured. He had me sit in his car with the heat on while we awaited the police. And he told the police officer the truth about pulling out in front of me: he noticed how slowly I was going and thought he had time to cross the road before I reached the intersection. And he would've been right if the road conditions had been better, or if it had been just his pick-up truck going across instead of his truck and trailer.

When it was time to go back to town later, I was so nervous about getting in the car. I remember how nervous Katie became about driving after a semi side-swiped her. In my rational mind, I realize that accidents can happen, but when it does happen, it's kind of scary to get behind the wheel again, wondering what's going to go wrong this time. But they tell you to get right back up on that horse after you fall off....