Much of my Christmas week was spent in a rented Toyota
Corolla driving to Michigan to visit family, including a trip “Up North” to see Gramma. Car driving is a novelty these
days since I haven’t owned a car in over a year, although I do drive a rental
once a month or so when I travel for work.
Being car free and spending much of my time on my bicycle commuting
around metro Hartford, I gather up a bit of vitriol directed at motorized road
users. Some of that vitriol spills into
blog posts and discussions with friends.
With evil, heartless car drivers running over defenseless cyclists,
pointed up by the recent deaths on Burnside Avenue, I’ve been spouting some
pretty vehement stuff regarding distracted drivers.
Sometimes it takes something scary to bring you back to
earth and remind you that crashes and road deaths can happen to even the smug, self-righteous bicycle commuter and supposedly enlightened transportation
advocate. The following episode reminded
me, who should know better, that it’s
critical while driving to minimize distractions and act in a predictable
manner. The reminder is important enough
to me that I decided to capture it in a blog post and subject myself to the public
scrutiny of my action and mea maxima culpa - sort of like locking myself into the pillory on the town commons, in electronic perpetuity.
I was heading across northern Ohio, and found myself off
route due to missing an exit. My GPS was
on the blink and I was trying to figure out which way I should be heading. It was a long driving day (~12 hrs) and
adding an extra couple hours was not something I was keen on. I had my Bluetooth earpiece in, and was
answering some phone interview questions for of all things an article on the
Burnside Avenue ghost bikes and distracted driving - yes the irony is painfully obvious. This was not an appropriate time for me to be
talking on the phone – and it will not happen again.
Upon hanging up, I noticed a rest area exit fast approaching
– almost immediately on my right.
There are highway maps at rest stops and I needed to figure out if I was
headed in the right direction. I could
just make it, but I was in the left lane of the two lane highway. A quick glance in the mirror and I swung for
the exit, a stupidly rash decision. The
quick glance wasn’t good enough, as there was a car in my blind spot in the
right lane. It was such a close call
that the driver behind me had to take the rest area exit with me and rightly
stopped and complained, “Are you having a baby or something?” I couldn’t apologize profusely enough, and
staggered with embarrassment into the building.
What an idiot!
I made a conscious decision to sear this episode into my
consciousness, and not bury it with other embarrassments that I have accumulated. This was a personal "near miss" that fortunately didn't have major repercussions. By writing it down and sharing it with others I hope to use this as an
indelible life lesson that drives my driving decisions for the rest of my
life. One stupid decision or several
compounding stupid decisions while driving a 2-ton missile can quickly result
in severe injury or death. Maybe my
dirty driving laundry may even help others skip the hard lessons that
distracted driving can bring.
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