There's this thing I used to say to people, 'if you want to see me get mad, put a windshield in front of me.' This is because when I get behind the wheel of a car I like to go somewhere. If you get into your car and just decide to hit the road - no end in mind - we're going to have a problem you and me.
I hate driving in this city. Driving in Calgary has become one of the last things I want to do. With one million vehicles now registered in a city like Calgary, Alberta you almost can't avoid being a witness or victim of an accident.
I was driving my brother home from his road exam. He had borrowed my car to take during his test and I remember thinking, even though he's professionally licensed now I'll still drive home. We were on The Deerfoot (Deerfoot Trail, also known as Queen Elizabeth/Alberta Highway II) and it was approaching 3:30 pm when rush hour traffic is beginning to get a little thick. Motorists are merging and exiting and speeding up.
While approaching the off ramp I noticed the vehicles ahead of me braking and as a result began to slow down myself. My brother was in the passenger seat; as I mentioned I was driving and there was a lady behind me with two young kids in the back seat. It didn't seem like she was slowing down.
That's when I realized the vehicles ahead of me almost at a complete stop and I said to my bro, "this lady's going to hit us," and as the last word left my mouth -POW- she did; she hit us.
Her car had rebounded after impacting mine, and was then at a dead stop on a main highway with vehicles flying around us at no less than 100 kilometres per hour. Within another moment the lady who hit me was then hit from behind by a large SUV. The front right axle snapped leaving his truck now stranded in the middle of Highway 2.
The hit to the lady's car caused it to be pushed into mine a second time. My poor brother just passes his road test and this happens. And it always happens so fast that we almost forget
I had told my brother about the lady hitting us before she did because in my rearview mirror I could see her; at the time of me braking, turned around and paying attention to her children in the back seat. Maybe the kids were fighting and one of them was crying or something.
Kids cry all the time.
But she wasn't paying attention.
When I think back to this I can't remember if there is anything I could have done to avoid being hit. I was driving the speed limit, slowing with traffic as was necessary in attempt to exit the highway. I checked my surroundings, including beside and behind me.
I think I was paying attention.
Later that afternoon I went into work and the regulars started coming in for a hot steak sandwich and cold beers. When the usual talk-of-the-day started I heard them complaining about an accident on the main highway.
Three cars, one of them stopped dead in the middle with no front right tire.
They said the axle snapped right off; went into some lady's trunk.
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