I had a near-death experience today and I am praying thanks to God and to the 6 drivers on I-526 this afternoon for paying attention. We were headed towards the Don Holt Bridge and the electronic sign said that traffic was slowing because there were lanes closed. The moment I read the sign, the traffic immediately in front of me stopped at a stand-still. The car in front of me slammed on brakes. Luckily, I was pretty far back, so I just slowed down and stopped. I looked in my rear-view mirror to make sure the cars behind me were stopping and I saw a white Jeep come to a stop. What happened in the next 5-10 seconds saved our lives. There was an 18-wheeler going at least 45mph and slowing, but he couldnt stop in time. I saw him moving to the left to attempt to go around. I was chanting, Hold on Mom! Hold on Mom! Hold on Mom! In that second or two, I whipped my van as far to the right as I could. Simultaneously, the truck beside me and the car behind it moved slightly into the right emergency lane. I inched my van just a little further over, partially into the the right lane... the Jeep followed suit. Before I could take another breath, the 18-wheeler moved to the left into the emergency lane and continued to stop. He stopped 2 1/2 car lengths ahead of us, missed side-swiping us by a couple of feet and stopped about 3-5 feet away from the end of the emergency lane. If any part of the scenario would have been different... if someone would have been texting, if the vehicles to the right of me wouldnt have moved, if the truck driver hadnt made a split-second decision to move.... I believe with all of my heart that my mom and I would be dead. The 18-wheeler seemed to be going the speed limit, traffic just stopped so abruptly that he couldnt stop in time. So, kudos to the 18-wheeler for putting himself in danger to try to spare us. If he hadnt stopped in time, he would have ran head-on into the end of the emergency lane which was a short, cement wall. Kudos to the drivers to the right of me for being cell-phone free and paying attention. And kudos to the guy behind me who was also paying attention. If any one of us would have been texting, on Facebook or disconnected, things would be VERY different for Mom and I. I am grateful to God for putting THOSE people in that situation with me today. And, I am thankful for my mom griping at me a few months ago that my cell phone use in my van was going to kill me. Had I been on it today, that certainly may have been the case.
Posted on: Thu, 31 Oct 2013 20:16:08 +0000
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