Not what you ever want to look up and see.. but what if....
In this case, it's just a tractor being towed ahead of us, and no real threat at all. But ironically, and tragically, a couple of days later, within a mile of where this picture was taken (by Jo Ann - I was driving..), a young girl was killed by a drunk driver going the wrong way on this very road. He wasn't driving an eighteen wheeler, but he didn't need to be. A head-on at highway speeds is never going to end well.. Unless you're the drunk..
It seems like it's always the case that the stinking drunk 65 year old going the wrong way on the Interstate walks away (albeit in cuffs..) and the innocent 18 year old driver is killed. Yes - I know it's because they are drunk, and don't tense up, or whatever, but damn - is there no justice in the universe?
She probably wasn't experienced enough to have any idea that something like this could ever happen, much less what to do. Odds are, there wasn't much she could have done anyway. The car in front of her probably realized what was happening and swerved out of the way at the last second, and there he was..
I hope she was being a bad girl, and texting as she followed the guy who swerved. People do it all the time. They rely on the guy ahead of them to not do anything foolish, and keep them in their peripheral vision, like a visual anchor, as they "send a quick text". If that's what she was doing, she may have been spared a horrifying last moment of consciousness...
Of course, it's equally likely that if she hadn't been texting, she would have had time to react, and swerved out of the way too. Because people do crazy things.. All the time..
I can't tell you how many narrow escapes I've had, but I can tell you this - expect the unexpected.. Always keep an escape strategy in mind when you're in heavy traffic. Play "what if" constantly in your head.. What if that wheel comes off the truck beside you.. What if that jackass doesn't look before he changes lanes..
What if.. Believe me, it's much better than "If only".....
Not what you ever want to look up and see.. but what if....
In this case, it's just a tractor being towed ahead of us, and no real threat at all. But ironically, and tragically, a couple of days later, within a mile of where this picture was taken (by Jo Ann - I was driving..), a young girl was killed by a drunk driver going the wrong way on this very road. He wasn't driving an eighteen wheeler, but he didn't need to be. A head-on at highway speeds is never going to end well.. Unless you're the drunk..
It seems like it's always the case that the stinking drunk 65 year old going the wrong way on the Interstate walks away (albeit in cuffs..) and the innocent 18 year old driver is killed. Yes - I know it's because they are drunk, and don't tense up, or whatever, but damn - is there no justice in the universe?
She probably wasn't experienced enough to have any idea that something like this could ever happen, much less what to do. Odds are, there wasn't much she could have done anyway. The car in front of her probably realized what was happening and swerved out of the way at the last second, and there he was..
I hope she was being a bad girl, and texting as she followed the guy who swerved. People do it all the time. They rely on the guy ahead of them to not do anything foolish, and keep them in their peripheral vision, like a visual anchor, as they "send a quick text". If that's what she was doing, she may have been spared a horrifying last moment of consciousness...
Of course, it's equally likely that if she hadn't been texting, she would have had time to react, and swerved out of the way too. Because people do crazy things.. All the time..
I can't tell you how many narrow escapes I've had, but I can tell you this - expect the unexpected.. Always keep an escape strategy in mind when you're in heavy traffic. Play "what if" constantly in your head.. What if that wheel comes off the truck beside you.. What if that jackass doesn't look before he changes lanes..
What if.. Believe me, it's much better than "If only".....