Today on the way to Omaha, an amazing thing happened. So amazing, you won't quite believe it.It was pouring down rain such that my wipers could barely keep up and I was straining to see the tail lights of the car in front of me since that was essentially all I could see. I did, however, know that my exit was coming up quickly and I needed to get over. But there was a blue car traveling in my blind spot. I turned on my turn signal and...get this...the car behind me slowed down.
Can you believe it? He must have broken a dozen rules of the road. At least from what I have observed, when someone turns on their turn signal, you do any and everything in your power to close off any opening they may have perceived in traffic. The closer they are to an exit, the more important it is to speed up and block any attempt at getting over.
Maybe he can be forgiven, however. It is conceivable that he was behind me only half a mile earlier and witnessed some erratic driving which would be enough to make any driver thankful for a turn signal to give warning.
That little "incident" also made me rethink a common statistic out there. One of the most common causes of death in young children is the infamous automobile accident when they are improperly strapped. Those little bodies make rather unfortunate projectiles in a fast moving car, and just don't have that much of a chance.
We always buckle up. But I can tell you there are few things as distracting on the road as glancing in the rear view mirror and seeing your three year old standing in her car seat because she just learned to unstrap herself that moment as you were pulling out of the Burger King parking lot.
Now, it only took me one jerk of the wheel in an instant desire to pull over to recover my senses and remember the fact that I was in traffic. I didn't actually leave my lane, although I did weave a bit and the cars around me slowed. Because I'm sure for that instant I certainly looked like I was just going to pull off the road for no apparent reason.
But we're all ok. And I made my exit.
