Share Your Experience
There is probably not a day that I leave the house that I am not almost in an accident. Am I a bad driver? Absolutely not. But I have learned to be a very defensive driver. There are COUNTLESS numbers of people driving in their cars and not paying attention to what is going on around them or comprehending that they literally are holding someone’s life in their hands. While I would like to think that it is rare, it’s actually very common. Just yesterday we riding just a few miles from our home on a small and relatively quite two lane road only for a woman to press the gas on her car from about the middle of a parking lot and went to head out into the road. We happened to be there. Thank God my husband was able to swerve. She was talking on the cell phone. And don’t ask me what she was doing accelerating from the middle of the parking lot. That is just what happened yesterday.
Our story started several years ago when we were hit head on by a car going the wrong direction on a Sunday afternoon. It was the perfect storm. It usually is. We met on a hill on a curve…on an overpass. There was no where to go. And we only had seconds before impact.
People think this won’t happen to them. They don’t think they will be the driver responsible for this. They don’t think that while on the way to the grocery store this is going to happen to them. We didn’t think on that Sunday afternoon just moments after pulling out of a parking lot this was going to be waiting for us.
Sharing our experiences is part of raising awareness.
Please leave a comment and share your experience.
My 16 year old daughter, Jaci, was killed January 2008 while texing and driving. I know any distraction is so dangerous and can result in fatalities. I am becoming involved in a bill being worked on in the state of Texas to ban texting while driving. I hope to testify at the hear (if I can emotionally bring myself to do so). It is so important for teens and adults to realize how deadly this action is.
Tricia, I am so sorry. Please accept my condolences.
Thank you so much for sharing your story and the work you are doing to save lives. Please keep us posted and let us know if there is anything you would like us to post or anything we can do to help.
My uncle was involved in an accident just a week ago. He was hit by a guy that was texting and driving and ran a stop light. We are very blessed that it didnt kill my uncle. He was in ICU for 2 days and then got moved to a room for 3-4 days. He is now home and recovering but it is a very long road for him. My family and I are trying to get an awareness program started where we live but are having trouble getting a trailor to put the truck on so we can take it to schools and places around town to show the affects of texting and driving.
Two times in the last weeks I have almost been ran over by one an 18 wheeler coming head on in my lane thanks to talking on the cellphone, and just 30 minutes ago a car was in the lane next to me on the interstate and I being a defensive driver noticed him coming from behind me and into my lane so I was able to get out of his way, and of course he was on his phone and probably did not notice he almost ran me off the road. He was in a clunker and had I known he would have insurance I would have let him hit me. As far as the truck I didn’t budge cause I know Central freight has some insurance. This is worse than drinking and driving cause everyone has a phone and every one is not got a beer or a drnk driving down the road. I am all about passing a law.
Charly, I am so sorry to hear about your uncle. I can only imagine how much that accident has taken from him, and it is so senseless. This didn’t need to happen. Someone made a choice that led to this the same way someone makes a choice to drink and drive.
Linda, it is so sad, but I have just taken to avoiding the interstate as much as possible for these very reasons. It’s bad enough to be hit going 45 miles an hour. I really don’t want to see what it feels like at 70 miles an hour. Rarely, do I ever see police on the road with anyone pulled over giving them a ticket. I know they cannot be everywhere, but we must start enforcing laws that are already on the books (reckless driving).
I agree, Linda, your chances of being hit by someone who is texting or talking on the cell phone is much greater than ever being hit by a drunk driver. Why is it taking so long to address this and make laws restricting it? People did not used to wear seat belts until there was so much public awareness on the subject and then laws to enforce it. Now many people wear seat belts. We have got to do the same thing with distracted driving.
Tricia I am deeply sorry about your daughter.. I would love for you to share your experience with the world please email me at Kyrapnj17@gmail.com
I too had a VERY close encounter with a obviously inattentive driver that, if I had not been a 2.5 million mile experienced truck driver, I would have been just another Montana dead motorcyclist statistic! I was about 4 miles west of Billings MT. on Interstate 90, just passing the Zoo Drive on-ramp, in the LEFT lane even! When an obviously young man, with his friends in his one ton 4X4 Super Duty Pickup came onto the freeway, not even stopping in the right lane to properly merge, but, instead, while pulling a very heavy duty trailer, with all of a very small riding lawn mower on it, so there is zero way that he could not have seen me in his side mirrors, IF HE HAS EVEN BOTHERED TO ACTUALLY USE THEM! HE CAME STRAIGHT OFF THE ON RAMP, STRAIGHT INTO THE LEFT LANE, AND HIS TRAILER WAS GOING TO HIT ME RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE WHERE THE TIRES WERE! I even looked into his mirrors to see if I could see his face. as that would mean that he had seen me. He NEVER even looked in any of his mirrors! What kind of self centered idiot changes lanes without first looking to see if it is in fact empty? I had to apply every ounce of brakes that my Honda Shadow had to avoid being ran over by his trailer! I chased him for 20 miles until he took the off-ramp that he wanted, where I stopped next to his drivers door, and proceeded to tell him just how close he came to spending the next 15 years in a cell, and at first, all he could do was laugh! If it were not for both of his “friends” in the cab with him also starting to chew his ass out for not only what he did, but also because of his “couldn’t give a damn” attitude, I was angry enough that I MIGHT have actually pulled his stupid self out of his truck to give him an old fashioned “attitude adjustment”, but, cooler heads prevailed, and he can thank my being a christian, and his friends obvious heart felt apology and them telling me that they were going to tell his Harley Davidson riding father, who just happened to also be the president of his local bike club, just what the self centered idiot son of his almost did to a fellow biker for me NOT giving into my anger and beating some sense into his thick skull. So, you see, it is even in sparsely populated places that bikers are also run down and treated like vermin!