Today, a cautionary tale about something that happened to me which - honestly - left me shaken.
On my way to work, I came down off the exit ramp of the highway and pulled up to the road to make my turn, waiting for traffic to clear. From my left, a small, red car (not sure of the make) with an older man behind the wheel, was driving by from my left when he slowed down, right blinker on, and attempted to make a right hand turn ONTO THE OFF RAMP where I was sitting.
He slowed to a near stop, trying to find a way around me, and seemed frustrated that I was in his way.
I wasn’t sure what to do. I waved frantically, and even beeped my horn, trying to point out that he could not turn here. This just seemed to make him more upset at me. I think he wanted me to back up so he could make the dangerous and likely deadly turn.
There were no cars behind me so in a last ditch effort I rolled down my window to stick my head out and try to, somehow, make him realize he couldn’t turn here. By this time, however, he gestured angrily at me and sped off. Once I had tucked myself back inside, he had rounded a turn down the road and was out of my sight.
I finally pulled out and parked myself safely across the way. I figured I’d stick around for an extra few minutes in case he just decided to turn around and try again, though to be honest I had no plan for what to do if that happened. But he didn’t return. Maybe he had made it to the proper on ramp when I was distracted.
Had I been 15 seconds sooner, I would have missed him. Had I been 15 seconds later, well, I would have been dealing with him head on in a very different way.
How often have we read about these sorts of accidents and wondered how they possibly could happen. Like this. This is how. There it was, playing out right in front of me.
No sure what the moral of this story is. Try to be aware of your surroundings, I suppose. You have no idea if you just being there - like literally just existing - is enough to make a difference in somebody’s life, even if that somebody isn’t aware if it.
Keep your eyes open friends, stay alert, don’t be afraid.
There are more seniors on the road now than ever before. Some are easily confused, easily disoriented, most are good drivers. Try to remember for most of our (yes, our) lives there was nothing near the amount traffic then that exists today. Reaction times are slower, takes a little longer to make decisions. The last thing I want is to have to give up my driver's license so...have some patience.
This happened to me once but the lady was driving down one of the 2 lanes on the off ramp. I pulled in front of her blocking her access. She was waving me out of her way but I got out and told her she was getting on the wrong way. She couldn't turn around do I told her to get out and I'd turn her around. Turns out she couldn't stand without help and thankfully a gentleman stopped and drove her and her car to a safe spot followed by his wife driving his vehicle. I was so glad to have been in the right place at the right time. She was pretty shook up when she realized it.