Wrong Place, Right Time

 

Recently I had something happen that left me asking questions for which there are no answers this side of heaven. 

I was driving into Dallas for a routine follow-up appointment with a doctor; nothing life threatening other than driving in Dallas traffic.  I’m in the inside lane southbound on 75 in McKinney and going about 80 MPH which is the minimum for inside lane travel on 75.  A Prius (yes a Prius) blows by me on the right side going at least 100, dodging in and of traffic.  They cut in front of a car ahead of me, almost clipping the front bumper. 

A few minutes later the crazy Prius is back in the middle lane and decides to jump back to the inside lane this time causing the car in front of me to slam on their brakes and swerve.  At this point they lost control and the car went all over the place almost flipping over completely.  Somehow the driver regained control and ended up at a dead stop sideways across the inside lane.  This all happened in a matter of seconds.

I came to a stop less than 10 feet from the driver’s passenger door.  A young woman was watching the big black Ram pickup to see if it was going to plow into her vehicle.  When I stopped she looked down, still clutching the steering wheel.  The cars behind me had stopped…those in the lanes to the right were still slowly rolling by.  I was about to get out and check on her when I saw she gathered herself and started looking to see what she needed to do to get turned back around.  Fortunately, a car in the lane next to us stopped traffic allowing her to back up and get going.  Then the wave of cars seemed to part. She was able to cross all the way over and safely exit.   

 So why do I say I was in the wrong place?  It turned out that I had screwed up on the time for my appointment.  I was an hour early.  Otherwise, I would not have been behind this young woman.  She might have had someone else like me behind her who maintains a safe distance and isn’t texting or eating breakfast as they speed down the highway.   But more than likely, she would have had someone following too close and not paying attention until it was too late.  I was pumping my brakes to get the attention of those behind me and doing everything I could to stop before running into her; or perhaps worse yet swerving into the lane to my right and setting off an even larger chain reaction accident.

Someone else could have been there.  But I was.  And this time it worked out.  I am no hero, just an old man driving too fast but paying attention.  I said a special prayer that night for the young woman who was, in fact, a hero; and one helluva of a driver.  I am further convinced that someone else was with her that day….and I suppose with me as well.