Saturday, January 02, 2010

Tailgating . . .

. . . redux?

A driver with a history of seizures crashed through a reversable-lane gate and hit a woman head-on. Both drivers died.

The driver of the van saw the car coming the wrong way, steered into the Jersey wall and was just sideswiped. Frances Wilson, following behind the van, didn't have time to react, and was hit head on at a closing velocity of about 120 mph. She didn't have a chance.

I guess I can't call this tailgating, and I'm certainly not faulting Ms. Wilson. Unfortunately, she was following a large van, and had limited vision ahead. I guess the object lesson is that one needs to be able to see hundreds of yards ahead when travelling at speed.

I NEVER follow anything that blocks my view ahead. If I can't see around it, I either pass it or drop way back.

It reminds me of a time years ago when Mrs. B and I were leaving Peoria, IL. As we crossed the 4-lane Illinois river bridge, a driver passed us going the wrong way. He WAS in the right-hand lane and missed us, but both lanes were SUPPOSED to be going the other way. The last I saw of him, he was heading off the bridge onto the downtown freeway.

I feel so sorry for Ms. Wilson's family. She was doing nothing wrong, but still was taken out by someone else's carelessness.

The fragility of life is scary sometimes.

3 comments:

Silverback said...

Are people with a history of seizures allowed to drive here ?

Btw......happy birthday for Monday.

(blame Lisa and Facebook !)

Jack said...

My daughter/my publicist . . .

No, people with a record of seizures are not allowed to drive here, but they get away with it when they lie on their applications.

Lisa said...

That's awful. I am in complete agreement about needing to see ahead. I also won't follow something that blocks my view. That means that you are trusting the person in front of you with your life. And it just might be an idiot.