Floribama Riders

[This is a work in progress. I need to add more details and tighten this up.]

I had a pretty horrible Thursday the 12th and a great Friday the 13th that almost made up for it. I left work at 10 PM, feeling pretty pleased with myself for finishing a project but a little tired and relieved to be heading home. I was traveling on I-20, in the second lane from the right, with a string of cars in the right lane. One car started to merge into the right lane from the entrance ramp, and another car decided he wanted to be in my lane, even though I was directly next to him.

I stepped on the brake and swung the wheel to the left, which introduced a fishtail out toward the center of the highway. This shocked me, but I thought I was still in control as my car started to straighten out, but then the rear end kept going and had me heading directly for another car. The entire El Camino was heading across the lane, ready to slam into a car full of completely innocent people who had not cut me off. That's when I started to feel terror. I steered hard into the skid and somehow caught it before I hit the car to my right, but I steered too hard. The rear end caught and snapped me back to the left. Now I was heading across lanes and once again almost sideswiped a car to my left. Another steering correction made the car swing wide to the right, and then all I could see was concrete barrier filling the windshield.

I had read somewhere about a study that showed that people drove more aggressively when their car had safety features like airbags and anti-lock brakes. I figured having an old-school, rear-wheel drive car with lap belts was a good way to ensure I behaved myself. You regret that kind of logic when the windshield fills with Jersey barrier. I clearly remember thinking "lap belts" and making an effort to get my arms in front of my head.

After the impact, I remember an incredible amount of adrenaline, like I wanted to jump out of my seat and ... do what? I don't know. It felt like I still had work to do, like if I could just steer the car right, I could undo whatever had just happened. I had to intentionally slow myself down and take stock. Something hurt really bad on my face. I might have broken some bones, so I looked in the rear view mirror, and everything looked pretty much the same. I didn't see any blood or anything hanging off, so I guessed I was ok.

Then I saw people running down the side of the highway to my right with terrified looks on their faces. I had crashed head-on into the barrier at a right angle to the highway. The first fellow who arrived, I leaned over and smiled at him, giving him a thumbs-up. I knew they would be worried that I was unconscious.

[Insert part of motorcycle accidents vs. car accidents.]

I have people I could call, but I don't want to call them. Moments like these make you think about marriage and family and the value of close bonds.

[Describe officers.]

He cocked over his head to the left and spoke into his mic. "Can ya get me a decent tow truck drivah? This one's takin' all night." One of the officers--the former New Yorker--grew impatient. "You live right by here? I'll take you home." He moved his stuff out of the passenger seat so I could sit up front. As we walked back to the car, I realized what a big production this had become. They had three police cars sitting in staggered formation, taking up two left lanes, plus a HERO emergency truck with flashing lights.

I asked the officer to drop me off close to the highway exit. I felt ashamed to pull up to my own place by the police after wrecking my car, and I didn't want to inconvenience the officer, who had already gone out of his way. "Are you sure you'll be all right walking through this neighborhood?" he said. I laughed, thinking, "Hey, this is my neighborhood," but I just said, "Sure, I used to live in New York, remember?"

At home, I tried to get some sleep. I had left work at 10, the accident took a while to clean up, and it was well after 11, but something wouldn't let me fall asleep. I was scared and wouldn't get it out of my system until I shared all this with someone, but it was way to late to just call people and say "hey." At 3 AM, I got irritated with myself and thought, "I may as well do something productive," so I went down to the garage and finished installing the brake pads that would allow me to ride the motorcycle to work the next morning. I still hadn't finished installing them from the weekend, and that's why I was driving the car to work. If I had been riding a motorcycle when someone tried to merge into me, I would never have gotten into the accident.

I still couldn't fall asleep, so I sat in front of the tv and dozed off to the director's commentary on the movie, Juno. As a single guy who is not ready for children (yet, until I find the right woman), I never understood the concept of a comedy about unintended pregnancy--not funny. Well, it turns out the movie is funny and good.

So what to take away from this experience? Well, I'm certainly not going to take any money because I neglected to buy any collision insurance. I remember my logic. I had uninsured motorist, comprehensive and everything else, but "I'm never gonna *cause* an accident."

On the positive side, I didn't hit anybody, and I certainly could have taken out some cars. On the other hand, if someone had whispered to me as the guy was merging into my lane, "This could really cause an accident," I could have avoided it. My spidey sense didn't go off at full alarm though, so I reacted with more irritation than anything else. If I had *known* this was an impending accident, I would have stood on the brakes far earlier. I don't know why my spidey sense didn't go off. So f'ing stupid.

Maybe someone's trying to tell me I was not meant to have that car. It was never a practical vehicle. It was always a little bit about ego and not about getting from point A to point B. It was the first vehicle I ever bought partially for how other people would feel about it. Maybe someone was trying to tell me I was too wealthy.

I have a pretty well-bruised nose from where the steering wheel popped up and hit me before falling into my lap. I feel a little like the car beat me up, and I deserve it for treating the car like that.