SocraticGadfly: Life flashes before my eyes

March 04, 2007

Life flashes before my eyes

Damn near got killed driving up to Dallas. I took the “scenic” route driving up there, taking Texas 6 past College Station all the way up to Waco and I-35. Didn’t know that 35 was that torn up southof Waxahachie.

Anyway, a car was broken down in a stretch of 35 where there is NOshoulder, not even a partial, on either left or right — nothing but two lines of concrete barriers. I was almost the second car, not counting the break-down, in what surely would have been a chain accident, given the amount of traffic on 35.

Thank doorknobs I have a car new enough to have antilock brakes, and that I have tires with less than 10,000 miles on them, too. I just locked up, and then, as the car in front of me realized it couldn’t stop in time and swerved into the left lane, I was able to do so as well, and miss hitting it by about a foot. I’m also grateful I was paying full attention.
And THAT is another reason never to drive while talking on a cell phone.

As for the newer car … what about poor people who don’t have the money for a car with antilocks, as well as one that doesn’t pollute as much as an older model? (People who deliberately keep boats and drive a limper spare because they’re in hock for a set of “rims” don’t get my sympathy.)

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