I Made a Mistake


I'm a little shaken up this morning because of a mistake I made on my way to work. My mistake was stopping for a red light.

I was on the Burgman traveling east on Lougheed when I changed to the left lane to pass a black pickup truck. There was a red Honda Civic in the passing lane behind me but she wasn't going that fast--at least, not until I changed lanes. There was a car facing west in the intersection at Oxford waiting to turn left. He was creeping forward but stopped as we approached. Since the "Prepare to Stop" light started to flash, I slowed down and stopped at the red light. Unfortunately, the other cars did not. Most importantly, the driver in the red Honda Civic behind me did not. She split lanes and shot through the intersection at an acccelerated speed. She missed me by no more than 2 feet.

The problem with too many drivers these days is that they don't respect traffic signals and are prepared to blow through yellow and even red lights risking other people's lives just because they are in a hurry :mad:

That was probably my first really serious close call. Images of me being punted through the air by a car travelling at 70 km/h keep playing through my head especially since this motorcycle accident occured on the weekend:

From News1130:

Five people injured in Agassiz crash
April 03, 2006 - 4:12 am
By: John Streit

The RCMP are investigating an accident involving a car and a motorcycle in Agassiz. The crash happened at Dale Road and Sylvester just after two. Two people were reportedly thrown a hundred feet. A man and a woman from the motorcycle were taken to hospital by seperate air ambulances. Three others were taken to Mission Memorial. No word on the any of their injuries.

Comments

  1. Wow. I'm glad you're okay. Maybe you should avoid the Bergman until you have time to destress.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Boy! That's a very close call.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Shortly after that incident, I saw firetrucks with full lights and sirens racing away somewhere, and I was thinking that it could have been me. It took me about 1/2 hour to settle down. I've had all day to reflect on my mistake and what they taught us at motorcycle school about checking the mirrors really rings true. It's just that everything happened at the same time: me changing lanes, the lights changing, and a car in the intersection wanting to turn left. I didn't want to run the light and risk the driver in front cutting front of me. I guess getting rammed from behind isn't much better. I know excuses don't matter, and I can only hope that I can learn from the mistakes that don't kill me.

    ReplyDelete

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