Close Encounters of the Vehicular Kind
In a year and a half of my super long commute, I am now up to my third harrowing experience driving - first was the blizzard 13 Dec 2007, second was my flat tire 18 Nov 2008 (which I apparently never blogged), and this third one was a truck losing a wheel right after I drove past. I did see the aftermath of a dump truck that lost a wheel over the median around a year ago, but that didn't directly affect me.
Today I was driving on my nice long drive home and on a long straight stretch I noticed a red van driving in the breakdown lane with its hazards on. He was driving a little fast for the shoulder, and he wasn't entirely in it, and I couldn't tell what was going on, so I preemptively moved into the left lane. The highway wasn't that crowded, it was around 4:30 in the afternoon which is before main rush hour, so as I passed there was no one in the right lane between myself and the van, and the other cars in the right lane were a ways ahead of us and the semi truck in the right lane was aways behind myself and the van. As I passed I watched the van and found myself thinking that the two wheels on the left seemed like they were tipped so the bottoms were pointing outwards more than they should. I was just wondering if that was the issue when I looked back at the van in my rear view mirror and watched the front left wheel come off and the shaft throw off sparks as it hit the pavement.
I quickly threw my eyes back at the road, taking note of the mile marker as I passed it, fumbled for my cell with my right hand, and 911 transferred me to the state police just as I pulled off at the rest stop. I was pulling off because I realized I was shaking. These (mental) near-misses always get to me - "mental" because the van was never physically close to me, I never had to adjust my driving, but in my head was the realization that if things had been timed differently I could've been involved. Surprisingly the van did not seem to swerve when its axle hit the pavement, and for the tiny bit I watched I didn't see any other cars hit it, so perhaps everyone was okay in the end. Just realized now I was shaken up enough by it that I didn't remember to put my cell out of emergency tracking mode; I usually do that a bit after completing the 911 call.
If you've never called 911 for a fellow motorist, here's what to expect - I witness 911-worthy accidents or problems around once a semester. Firstly, don't call for near-misses, or if you think "this road's never backed up, there must be an accident ahead," call only when something really has happened that you've seen or see the aftermath for it. Before you call or while you're fumbling for the phone, make note of (a) what road you're on, (b) what town you're in (if you're not sure, then the last town you saw a sign for), (c) what mile marker you're at, closest exit, or side-street. After I dial 911 and hit send, the operator says "911, this call is being recorded, what's your emergency?" I reply "I am on highway blah and I just witnessed an accident / car run off the road / whatever." My first statement always tells the type and severity of the problem. The operator then asks what town, and I give my best guess - one time I had no clue and the 911 operator replied "I'm tracking your phone [GPS] and it looks like you're in Blahtown." After giving the town or the operator identifying it, if you're on a state highway the operator will then reply "Hold on, I'll transfer you to the State Police" because they can get there fastest and are in charge of the highway I drive every day. After a very brief pause the State Police then picks up and says "State Police" and I say "I'm in Blahtown on highway blah and I just saw a car run off the road / van lose a wheel. The car is on highway blah headed West near mile marker ## / Exit ##." Sometimes the statie will ask for more detail, such as "is the car on the median or the shoulder?" or "are there any injuries?" and I'll reply "it's on the right shoulder headed West, it did not hit any other cars while I was watching," or "it's on the median headed North, I did not see any injuries but a woman was running from the car holding a baby and a child was following her; maybe she was worried another car would hit them." The nice policeman will then say "thank you, we're dispatching a vehicle now," and I say nice things back and hang up. Usually I put the phone down for a few minutes, and then go back and turn off the emergency tracking mode (it turns on automatically on most phones when you dial 911). Sometimes I pull over for a bit and shake if I need to.
I'd managed to push today's incident out of my head for a while (I made pizza!), but watching a car chase in Numb3rs with a large red SUV brought it back, and after telling T$ I was still shaking so I typed it up here, and now I'm still shaking, so I think I will go do something relaxing instead of shaking or trying to work. Or maybe work will drive it out.
Today I was driving on my nice long drive home and on a long straight stretch I noticed a red van driving in the breakdown lane with its hazards on. He was driving a little fast for the shoulder, and he wasn't entirely in it, and I couldn't tell what was going on, so I preemptively moved into the left lane. The highway wasn't that crowded, it was around 4:30 in the afternoon which is before main rush hour, so as I passed there was no one in the right lane between myself and the van, and the other cars in the right lane were a ways ahead of us and the semi truck in the right lane was aways behind myself and the van. As I passed I watched the van and found myself thinking that the two wheels on the left seemed like they were tipped so the bottoms were pointing outwards more than they should. I was just wondering if that was the issue when I looked back at the van in my rear view mirror and watched the front left wheel come off and the shaft throw off sparks as it hit the pavement.
I quickly threw my eyes back at the road, taking note of the mile marker as I passed it, fumbled for my cell with my right hand, and 911 transferred me to the state police just as I pulled off at the rest stop. I was pulling off because I realized I was shaking. These (mental) near-misses always get to me - "mental" because the van was never physically close to me, I never had to adjust my driving, but in my head was the realization that if things had been timed differently I could've been involved. Surprisingly the van did not seem to swerve when its axle hit the pavement, and for the tiny bit I watched I didn't see any other cars hit it, so perhaps everyone was okay in the end. Just realized now I was shaken up enough by it that I didn't remember to put my cell out of emergency tracking mode; I usually do that a bit after completing the 911 call.
If you've never called 911 for a fellow motorist, here's what to expect - I witness 911-worthy accidents or problems around once a semester. Firstly, don't call for near-misses, or if you think "this road's never backed up, there must be an accident ahead," call only when something really has happened that you've seen or see the aftermath for it. Before you call or while you're fumbling for the phone, make note of (a) what road you're on, (b) what town you're in (if you're not sure, then the last town you saw a sign for), (c) what mile marker you're at, closest exit, or side-street. After I dial 911 and hit send, the operator says "911, this call is being recorded, what's your emergency?" I reply "I am on highway blah and I just witnessed an accident / car run off the road / whatever." My first statement always tells the type and severity of the problem. The operator then asks what town, and I give my best guess - one time I had no clue and the 911 operator replied "I'm tracking your phone [GPS] and it looks like you're in Blahtown." After giving the town or the operator identifying it, if you're on a state highway the operator will then reply "Hold on, I'll transfer you to the State Police" because they can get there fastest and are in charge of the highway I drive every day. After a very brief pause the State Police then picks up and says "State Police" and I say "I'm in Blahtown on highway blah and I just saw a car run off the road / van lose a wheel. The car is on highway blah headed West near mile marker ## / Exit ##." Sometimes the statie will ask for more detail, such as "is the car on the median or the shoulder?" or "are there any injuries?" and I'll reply "it's on the right shoulder headed West, it did not hit any other cars while I was watching," or "it's on the median headed North, I did not see any injuries but a woman was running from the car holding a baby and a child was following her; maybe she was worried another car would hit them." The nice policeman will then say "thank you, we're dispatching a vehicle now," and I say nice things back and hang up. Usually I put the phone down for a few minutes, and then go back and turn off the emergency tracking mode (it turns on automatically on most phones when you dial 911). Sometimes I pull over for a bit and shake if I need to.
I'd managed to push today's incident out of my head for a while (I made pizza!), but watching a car chase in Numb3rs with a large red SUV brought it back, and after telling T$ I was still shaking so I typed it up here, and now I'm still shaking, so I think I will go do something relaxing instead of shaking or trying to work. Or maybe work will drive it out.