Vicky Bilaniuk
June 13th 04, 12:30 AM
Some of you, here, are bad luck! ;-) No, I did not have an accident,
but I sure came close! Picture this: me, in my car, following two
mini-vans that were driving closely together. The one directly in front
of me is swerving back and forth between the left and right lanes, so I
figure that that's the one to watch. We eventually get to a spot where
I must make a lane change in order to keep going where I wanted to go,
so I move to the right lane (on this particular road, the left lane
becomes a turning lane and the right lane, which is mostly a parking
lane, suddenly becomes the through lane - yes, this is a stupid design,
but we're stuck with it). We were all in the left lane to start with -
well that one mini-van was mostly in the left lane so I count it as
being in the left lane. After make my lane change, I see that the
swerving mini-van has temporarily stabilized, so I go for it (both
mini-vans were moving kind of slowly, so I wanted to get up to normal
speed). As soon as I get nose to nose with it, take a guess at what
happens... The *other* mini-van driver decides to make a right hand
turn from the left lane. Could this get worse? Yes, because they made
the turn into a driveway, so they slowed right down so as to reduce the
impact of the initial bump.
Let's just say that my ABS once again got a work out (I can't believe
how many times I've had that ABS kick in, yet when I bought the car I
figured I would have no use for ABS and just got it anyway because it
seemed like a nice resale feature). I can't believe it; I almost
t-boned that stupid b&tch. ;-) I saw her the whole time, too. She
never looked, not even once. The passengers in the van were all kids
and they weren't looking, either. Anyway, this activity freaked the
driver of the other mini-van out so much that they stopped in the middle
of the road and just sat there for a few seconds. Personally, I was on
my way to pick up DH so I just kept going as soon as the way cleared
again, although I wish I had thought to honk the horn (that *always*
happens - I barely make it out of something and never think to honk the
horn until later, and the reason why I don't honk it *during* is because
I have both hands on the wheel and I'm much more focussed on driving
than on payback).
On the way back (which was just a few minutes later), I looked for the
van and never found it. For this reason, I figure that this person was
driving a bunch of kids home and what likely happened was that one of
the kids said "OK my house is right... HERE HERE THAT ONE!" No excuse,
of course, but I bet that it's at least the *explanation*. Anyway, I'm
just glad I hadn't pulled up any sooner, otherwise I would have been
sideswiped.
The one downfall about ABS got reinforced in my mind, though: it's too
silent! That woman never knew what almost hit her. ;-) If I had
achieved 4 wheel lock up, she would have at least noticed...
but I sure came close! Picture this: me, in my car, following two
mini-vans that were driving closely together. The one directly in front
of me is swerving back and forth between the left and right lanes, so I
figure that that's the one to watch. We eventually get to a spot where
I must make a lane change in order to keep going where I wanted to go,
so I move to the right lane (on this particular road, the left lane
becomes a turning lane and the right lane, which is mostly a parking
lane, suddenly becomes the through lane - yes, this is a stupid design,
but we're stuck with it). We were all in the left lane to start with -
well that one mini-van was mostly in the left lane so I count it as
being in the left lane. After make my lane change, I see that the
swerving mini-van has temporarily stabilized, so I go for it (both
mini-vans were moving kind of slowly, so I wanted to get up to normal
speed). As soon as I get nose to nose with it, take a guess at what
happens... The *other* mini-van driver decides to make a right hand
turn from the left lane. Could this get worse? Yes, because they made
the turn into a driveway, so they slowed right down so as to reduce the
impact of the initial bump.
Let's just say that my ABS once again got a work out (I can't believe
how many times I've had that ABS kick in, yet when I bought the car I
figured I would have no use for ABS and just got it anyway because it
seemed like a nice resale feature). I can't believe it; I almost
t-boned that stupid b&tch. ;-) I saw her the whole time, too. She
never looked, not even once. The passengers in the van were all kids
and they weren't looking, either. Anyway, this activity freaked the
driver of the other mini-van out so much that they stopped in the middle
of the road and just sat there for a few seconds. Personally, I was on
my way to pick up DH so I just kept going as soon as the way cleared
again, although I wish I had thought to honk the horn (that *always*
happens - I barely make it out of something and never think to honk the
horn until later, and the reason why I don't honk it *during* is because
I have both hands on the wheel and I'm much more focussed on driving
than on payback).
On the way back (which was just a few minutes later), I looked for the
van and never found it. For this reason, I figure that this person was
driving a bunch of kids home and what likely happened was that one of
the kids said "OK my house is right... HERE HERE THAT ONE!" No excuse,
of course, but I bet that it's at least the *explanation*. Anyway, I'm
just glad I hadn't pulled up any sooner, otherwise I would have been
sideswiped.
The one downfall about ABS got reinforced in my mind, though: it's too
silent! That woman never knew what almost hit her. ;-) If I had
achieved 4 wheel lock up, she would have at least noticed...