Close Call...

Sunday Deb and I were heading to Red Lobster for a Birthday lunch on a rain slick Highway 503. I was slowing down for a stop light and noticed a looming shape in the rearview mirror! An older black car was coming up on us way too fast as I tensed up for impact! At the last moment the car swerved over into the other lane, zoomed by and barely stopped in time with the extra 100 feet that lane offered. Deb had not even noticed and I informed her of the close call and pointed out the front end damage on the car from some previous miscalculation. The close call car began to weave in and out of traffic as soon as the light turned green. "They've obviously done this before!" I said and quickly the conversation moved on.

Three minutes later at the most, I begin yet another slow down for a light, and notice something familiar about the car in front of me. Just as my mind realizes that it is the same car that just missed me before... BAM!!! From my vantage point all I see is the rear wheels lift off of the ground as I can see the gas tank and drive train UNDER this car as the butt end goes way up in the air! "It's Them!" we both scream as I look back to make sure no one does the same to us. Set the hazards, get out and walk up to the mess, everyone seems okay and the rear endee is out and waiting for the rear ender to exit her vehicle. I look at the guy and let him know that this shocked 19 year old woman had just missed doing the same thing to me, not 4 blocks back. The ramming vehicle contains 3 teenage kids who seems surprised, but not too shocked at what they had just done. The girl partially opens her door and asks if she has done any damage! The front of her car is gone... Turned into a giant accordion with the fluids already beginning to drain out. I head back to the car to get a card for my phone number and all three of us get off of the road. Someone else in the ramming car must be driving, as the girl is left out on the road to pick up the pieces of her car. The driver girl immediately lights up a cigarette (probably what she was trying to do when she should have been applying the brakes) and power smokes while I hand him my card. No one seemed hurt, but as we pulled back onto the road an ambulance pulled into the vacated spot.

So my advice to all during these rain showers we have been having is... Watch your spacing and pretend that no one knows how to drive! It's closer to the truth than you might imagine.