Just keep driving
When I was teaching my kids to drive, I always told them that no matter what happens, just keep driving. By that, I meant to always stay in full control of the vehicle. After all these years, this has become second nature to me and I wanted it to be second nature to my kids, too, since it could save their lives.
A few years ago, I was side-swiped by a drunk driver who was trying to pass me on a narrow two-lane highway. There were cars coming at him head on and when I saw him in my rear view mirror, pulling out to pass me, I let off the gas and began to slow down. Not drastically so as to be rear-ended, but enough to try to give this fool a chance to get by me.
He cut in way too soon and took off my outside mirror while tearing up the side of my car and then he went over my bumper, which got twisted around to the front of the car. He never stopped, but just sped away, passing yet another vehicle in front of me as soon as the oncoming cars got by him.
What did I do? I just kept driving. I held the steering wheel through it all, staying in the road, in my lane. My little girl was screaming in terror, but when we finally stopped safely, we were both ok. Just shaken up.
Just keep driving.
I can't even count the times there have been head-on collisions caused by people who swerved to miss a dog or some other animal. Someone always died. YOUR life is worth more than that.
Just keep driving.
Since we live in the country, we see all kinds of animals crossing the road, especially at night. Both my kids have hit deer with a vehicle. The front of the vehicle got really banged up, but the kids were just fine. Why? They remembered, just keep driving. They slowed enough to give the deer a chance to get across the road, but they neither swerved nor slammed on the brakes. Better a deer dies than I lose one of my children to save the deer's life.
A few years ago, I was side-swiped by a drunk driver who was trying to pass me on a narrow two-lane highway. There were cars coming at him head on and when I saw him in my rear view mirror, pulling out to pass me, I let off the gas and began to slow down. Not drastically so as to be rear-ended, but enough to try to give this fool a chance to get by me.
He cut in way too soon and took off my outside mirror while tearing up the side of my car and then he went over my bumper, which got twisted around to the front of the car. He never stopped, but just sped away, passing yet another vehicle in front of me as soon as the oncoming cars got by him.
What did I do? I just kept driving. I held the steering wheel through it all, staying in the road, in my lane. My little girl was screaming in terror, but when we finally stopped safely, we were both ok. Just shaken up.
Just keep driving.
I can't even count the times there have been head-on collisions caused by people who swerved to miss a dog or some other animal. Someone always died. YOUR life is worth more than that.
Just keep driving.
Since we live in the country, we see all kinds of animals crossing the road, especially at night. Both my kids have hit deer with a vehicle. The front of the vehicle got really banged up, but the kids were just fine. Why? They remembered, just keep driving. They slowed enough to give the deer a chance to get across the road, but they neither swerved nor slammed on the brakes. Better a deer dies than I lose one of my children to save the deer's life.
Labels: Musings
posted by Ann crum @ 8:05 AM
4 Comments:
At 9/13/2007 6:20 PM,
Fireflower said…
I hear you. We're working on teaching my husband how to drive and I'm finding out that part of my reluctance to hand him the keys is that I will lose any sort of control over his safety behind the wheel. Not that I would have control over his safety to begin with (gotta love the military) but I would lose more of what I do have.
Also on the deer-related note, my aunt used to live in the country and one night they woke up to find that a deer had attacked the car in the middle of the night. One car, parked and seriously mangled. One deer, dead. That was an interesting insurance claim!
At 9/13/2007 6:27 PM,
Ann crum said…
Wow! I have never heard of a deer doing that! I'm sure the insurance company had to be skeptical..lol
At 9/17/2007 6:12 PM,
Anonymous said…
"Just keep driving" can be applied to our daily lives as well. We need to remember God is in control and just keep driving, stay calm and on course when we are beset by troubles, God will see us thru and sometimes do the driving if need be if we let him.
At 9/18/2007 2:03 AM,
Ann crum said…
Nellie, you're exactly right. Like Paul, running the race set before him, we all have our own race to run but we have to "just keep driving" to cross the finish line. Thanks so much for stopping by!
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