When seconds count...

I witnessed a terrific car accident this evening. I'm always amazed how I immediately jump into "take control" mode - - I pulled over, called 911, began assessing injuries, and performing traffic control within seconds. It is such a unique sensation when you witness something like that, and it all goes into a series of freeze frames - - click - - click - - click, like slo-mo. I saw the small car waiting for me to pass so it could turn left in front of me, I saw the blue truck approaching it, I realized he wasn't slowing down, I saw him swerve at the last second, and then I saw it ram the small car from behind, erupting the rear windshield into a million crystals and thrusting it 180 degrees into my lane. The driver of the small car was unconcious when I got there, and luckily, some of the residents who live on that stretch of road were already there too. I saw red splatters all over the interior of the car, but they turned out (thankfully) to be Kool-Aid. The guy in the blue truck had a little boy, about 4 years old, who just wanted a band-aid and to go home (his head was bleeding) because he was afraid the ambulance people were going to give him a shot. It wasn't until afterwards that I realized if I had left Walmart just two seconds earlier, I would've been in the midst of it.

I got new tires today, and I feel very safe. Well, safer.