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Was driving to my chiropractor appointment Wed. afternoon. Doing about 50 mph on 2 lane blacktop. All of a sudden from a street on the right, I see a HUGE pickup truck (probably like a Ford 250 or a Dodge RAM) nose right outside the passenger window, from a farm road on the right. He's pulling out to make a left and doesn't even see me, because I'm in a much smaller vehicle. Dear Hubby is riding shotgun.
I'm in a little four door Mazda. So I stomp on the gas. And I guess I swerved to the left over the yellow line. When I see him, he's probably a foot from my car, the front end of his pickup is maybe a foot from my car and looming over it, and I thought he was moving slowly.
I stomp on the gas to get ahead of him. I see his nose in my right rear view mirror, and by the time I get out of the way, his front end was probably just a few inches from my rear end.
I go a few more feet, do a U turn. He makes his left and pulls over. I pull over behind him, get out and yell at him that he better be more careful. He said he only looked one way in the lane of traffic he was pulling into. I guess that means he didn't have to look to the left since he was turning left. What a senile old man!! He really should not be driving.
I have never been in a near-wreck situation like that before. The whole time it felt like he couldn't have been more than a foot, and less, from the whole right side of my car. I'm gonna ask the local cops what to do to look out for him -- I got his license number.
Dear Hubby was amazed and thrilled and relieved that my reflexes and impulses were fast enough to get us out of the way and keep us from a major T-bone accident. I do all the driving at night since DH is growing cataracts. I am 55 and have never gotten a ticket for causing a wreck, although I have been in several wrecks. He's 64 and trying to hang on till he's eligible for Medicare.
I'm posting this here because the whole situation and memory feels so different from a wreck -- this wasn't quite in slow motion, but the part I remember was a bit slowed down -- and the truck was SO CLOSE to the side of my car for several feet down the right side. By the time I passed him it was just a few inches. Weird.
I'm praying "To whom it May Concern" like a good Unitarian. :D
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