No death to the intern today

[fbhjr]

Driving in to work this morning I was in the high speed lane moving along
at a good speed when the car in front of me stopped quickly.
Complete stop, not just slowing down. Very little warning, they just
stopped.

I hit my brakes. But, as I was slowing down I saw the car behind me in the
mirror.
If I stopped fast enough to miss the car in front of me, the car behind me
was going to hit me.
Not by much. I was only a few feet short of the distance I needed.
But, one of the two was going to hit.

So, I swerved into the median just before hitting the car in front of me.
I stopped with the front of my car about a foot past the back of their car.
The car behind me stopped about where my back seat was.

I only had 2 wheels on the grass, so once the cars started moving again I
had no problem pulling back onto the road and continuing on.

When I got to work our summer intern came up to me.
“Thank you for not rear ending me,” he said. “I didn’t mean to stop
without warning, but the person in front of me did it to me and I didn’t
have a choice.”
“No problem,” I said. “I just didn’t want to be hit by the guy behind me.”
“Does he work here too?”
“Don’t know. It wasn’t their face I was looking at. I paid more attention
to the front of their car.”

All in all, glad I didn’t hit him.

Don’t know what’s going on with that highway this week. Every single day
this week there has been some sort of accident causing a big slow down.
Must me the 3 day weekend coming up.

Comments

[ravena-kade.livejournal.com]

Yay for good driving skills and a zippy little car.

[newlifeinstpaul.livejournal.com]

Was everyone involved driving a Prius or other hybrid moon buggy? Cuz now I'm strangely curious.

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

I had the only moon buggy.
The intern has an old 4 door. Maybe a crayola or some such.
It was an SUV behind me.

D'oh autocorrect!

[brickhousewench.livejournal.com]

Crayola? I'll bet that's a colorful car!

Re: D'oh autocorrect!

[malterre.livejournal.com]

And a bitch in warm climates

Re: D'oh autocorrect!

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

I meant like the crayon. It reflects how our intern's car's paint job looks.
Didn't keep between the lines...

[brickhousewench.livejournal.com]

Wow, go you for avoiding an accident! And whoa that you knew the person in front of you! (Although the one time I had a fantastic spinout in snow, my neighbor/coworker at the Mall was there to witness it!)

[meathiel]

Scary!

[hindustar.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow. I am glad everyone is ok.

[pallid-regina.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's just crazy odds. And good on'ya for handling your car well.

[palusbuteo.livejournal.com]

Yikes. Glad you were able to get out of the way and had a space to duck into.

I agree, there has been an awful lot of weird and twice daily accidents or breakdowns (or both) the last few weeks.
It has made an otherwise annoying commute much more of a hassle.

Almost every day for the last week there has been at least one car broken down in the MIDDLE lane or in the middle of the street
forcing everyone else to try and maneuver around them, into oncoming traffic, during rush-hour, etc.

I had thought cars were becoming so reliable and computer controlled to prevent sudden total breakdowns that this sort of thing
was of the past. Guess I was wrong.

[chaquir.livejournal.com]

as I was slowing down I saw the car behind me in the
mirror.

that's what I automatically do also. Look straight away what's behind me and see if they can miss me.

I'm happy that you had such a good reaction and that you're okay

[anwyn-elfmaiden.livejournal.com]

yay for guardian angels and your great reaction! and interesting, that the person in the car in front of you is your summer intern.