Thursday, February 26, 2009

A Dead Pedestrian

Scenerio:
I take Kathryn to YW last night - 7:00 p.m. - drop her off and start home. I'm going 45 in a 45 MPH zone coming up to a green light and going to turn left. It's NOT a green arrow, but a green light and I am able to see a good 100 yards in front of me that there is no oncoming traffic but I signal anyways. AS I AM GOING THROUGH THE INTERSECTION, I slow to about 35 taking the turn and come RIGHT ON TOP of a bicyclist and SLAM on my brakes so hard, that although in my seatbelt, I come off my drivers seat and almost go through my windshield. He, also, comes to a screeching halt, sliding on to his side and we end literally 11-12 INCHES from eachother in STUNNED silence.
He came from out of no-where - no indication that he was even there. He had no lights on his bike, was wearing no reflective gear or anything to identify himself in the dark; and he was riding down the middle of the car lane. The only reason I even saw him was because my headlights were ON TOP OF HIM and he ended up directly below the intersection street light. Until then, he was undetectable.
My first thought was, 'Kathryn driving, he would have been dead', mostly because of her 'no experience' would not have allowed her to stop in time or know which way to turn to avoid hitting him. Next thought was 'is he considered a pedestrian or a vehicle?' and my last thought was, 'it doesn't matter, he would have been dead.'
He loooked at me as if to say ,'Uh, I have the right of way..duh???" My look to him was "I don't think that matters with you splattered all over the street IDIOT". Obviously, the next stage of shock had kicked in and I WAS MAD!!! But he left...he just rode off as if nothing had happened!!
I pulled over for a minute to calm down realizing how lucky it was that I had been driving and not Kathryn. She will be driving that road every day - two to three times a day - in another week when she gets her drivers license. I don't know - I asked Del who would have been at fault - who would have gotten the ticket, who would have been sued etc etc...realizing, that no answer would have changed the fact he would have been dead. Fault wouldn't have mattered. Vehicle or pedestrain, he would have been dead either way.
I wonder if Kathryn would throw a fit if I didn't let her get her license yet???

1 comment:

Vicki said...

I hate those "almost" accident moments. That's when my legs turn into wet noodles...yep, that's the feeling. The worst...