Twelve Hundred and Eighteen Straight Days with the Top Down.
145. On Ecorse Rd W, Turning Onto Denton Rd.
More evidence that I don't always have my hands on the wheel, despite others' belief to the contrary.
No topless driving this weekend; the picture is from Friday.
I called 911 again today, for an accident. I wasn't really a party, but I was involved as a witness/vigilante/all-around safety guy. Ansel, Julie and I were headed up US-23 going north from the Washtenaw Ave on ramp, with me behind the wheel. A black Jeep Commander had been behind me from Carpenter and I had noted the impatient driver. To make matters worse, there was a fairly slow Ford in front of me on the ramp. I was getting a bad feeling about this. The Ford merged, and I merged, and the Jeep merged and almost instantly moved over one more lane. Unfortunately for everybody, there was a Toyota Camry traveling in that lane. The Jeep pushed the Camry onto the shoulder, its driver panicking, overcorrecting and spinning back onto the roadway. The driver of a semi, behind this all, had probably seen it coming and gave the spinning Camry a wide berth. By now, the Commander had sped up, there was a cloud of dust behind me, and I decided to play vigilante.
At first I honked at the Commander, whose driver seemed unsure what to do. I then passed, turned on my hazards, and moved her over to the shoulder. To her credit, she did stop, and when I got to her she was already calling 911, just as Julie was doing. Julie was coming towards me, and I moved her behind the guard rail - for safety. I told the Jeep driver to put her hazards on and then went to find the Camry, who was a quarter or a half a mile back, hidden behind a curve. It turned out that the driver, her husband, and her son were all unhurt and the Camry undamaged. But it was sitting in the ditch, awkwardly, and I advised them not to try to push it onto the roadway. There's a blind curve before where the Camry was ditched, and if anyone is coming up driving fast but stupidly, then that could be another accident. I told them to wait for the police, who can block that lane temporarily and send them on their way. Then I gave them my contact information, went back to the Commander, agreed that if 911 told her she was good to leave the scene (after giving them her phone number and everything) there was no point in staying, and went back to the Subaru.
Can't tell you how long this all took. No idea. A few lessons to learn, though.
As much as I hate saying that, from the Camry driver's perpective this was an avoidable accident. She had had time to see the Commander's driver's impatient driving pattern. She should have thought of a way to avoid disaster before she was cut off. Instead, she panicked.
I don't know how I feel about being a vigilante. My worry was that that Camry had hit something, or rolled, or something terrible, and nobody would have had even a license plate. I think it was the right thing to do, but I'm not sure.
Finally, I should have been harsher on the Commander driver. I worry that she went home, feeling horrible, but as time goes on she may reprogram her memory of what happened, minimizing her own mistakes. She doesn't know that's a natural response, but I do. I should have told her that when she thinks back, she should think of the tall guy who told her it was completely her fault. But perhaps I'm wrong and she will in fact learn from her mistake. It's rare, but it happens.
One interesting fact I learned about calling 911: it doesn't show on your cell phone's dialed calls log. I wonder why that is.