the tinyblog

It was a dark, exhausted, confused and hazy Sunday night. I had driven everyone home and was on my way to work at 10:45pm. I was getting ready to get off Interstate 5 at 520 and go across the mile-long floating bridge across Lake Washington and on to work, so I was hugging the right edge of the far right lane.

I was fully in a dreamlike rumination mind state, turning things over and over that didn't make any sense, letting images and words mesh and fall apart, knowing that I could rest a bit when I got to work and let the quiet of the graveyard shift of a 24-hour call center bore me to calm.

I looked up for one last moment of dreamlike mind, noticed that my wheels were a full 2 feet off the roadway onto the shoulder, and that there was a white car there on the shoulder partially in my path. "Wow, how unexpected!" dreamlike mind thought, and then dreamlike mind was gone.

In it's place was the abrupt safety of physics mind. "What do you think, professor?"

"Well," said physics mind, "By my calculations you are not going to be able to avoid this vehicle. Current velocity: 68mph (109kph). Danger level: high. Prepare for initial impact."

Physics mind turned the wheel and held it firmly for the intial blow. Wham. The back left panel was torn off the white car, and the plastic of my wheel well was forced up inside the wheel well. Physics mind registered limited mobility in the front wheels, as well as a speed still over 60mph.

Dreamlike mind began to experience the terror of the situation of not being 100% sure if this was going to result in fatality or not, but physics mind remained firmly in control: reassessing.

The important thing was to get the keep the vehicle from fishtailing out and entering another lane or flipping, next most important was to get in or near the shoulder and stop as soon as possible. Physics mind straightened the wheel, began to brake, straightened, and then turned the wheel gently towards the guardrail.

Impact number two was not sufficient to bring the car to a complete halt, but it was enough to break the axle of the front right tire and slow it down a great deal. The biggest part of the danger was gone, again physics mind steered the car into the guardrail and this time there was a cement curb to really land against. The car had stopped. I noticed, strangely enough, my right door speaker flying out of the door at this final impact and remembered that this kind of force would probably do some damage to my physical structure. Physics mind recorded damage to the medial left patella, 6th rib and sternum.

Physics mind, having done it's primary job, began to make it's final calculations before leaving me alone there with my destroyed car poking ass-out into the far-right lane late on a Sunday night. Physics mind determined that my vehicle, no longer covered by collision, was beyond resonable repair. It noted 5 accidents in the last 18 months and did some quick cost/risk analysis. It determined at that time that driving was no longer an acceptable risk.

It felt my body and assessed the damage. Determined that I was able to stand up and get the hell out of that car to walk over to see if anyone was in the white car and if they were okay. Then it left me sitting in a mangled piece of metal in the cold dark night, wondering where to start.

I stood, got out of the car, walked carefully to the shoulder, and began limping towards the white car.

(continued...)