Had a bit of a scare today.
My normal work commute is about 45 min through some rather high traffic areas. I try to arrive early and leave for home right on time in order to miss most of it.
I got a late start this morning as my older daughter who just started a new job, slept right through her alarm. Her day got better when she had difficulty starting her brothers car, which is her temporary form of transportation. It was an operator error as starting his car is a very Macgyver style encounter. By the time I got on the road, the trip I can most days make in a little over a half hour turned into nearly an hour and a half drive- well sit. I have never seen so many cars on the road all at once. Very unusual.
On my commute home although I was a bit late leaving work, finishing up a bit of paperwork there was an unusually small amount of traffic.
It was actually a great drive, we have had a bit of rain the past couple days, the skies were blue, the air clear. I was even a bit amused that the stereo was ironically playing great selections and I began to sing along. Getting louder and creating my own Karaoke car.
When I was just about 15 min from home in the middle of a great sing-a-long out of the peripheral vision of my right eye, I saw a small puff of what looked like smoke turn suddenly into a huge cloud of dust and dirt. I heard tires squealing and then in what felt like slow motion, I saw the outline of a very large blue truck no more than 10-15 feet in front of me. The huge truck moved quickly from the outside lane of the highway and as fast as a child running across the street he was into my lane. Before I had time to realize just how close he was, he was in the lane to my left. then the carpool center lane.
Without thinking a bit, my knuckles white, I turned the wheel slightly as to miss a large piece of torn up tire. In my rear view mirror a Piece of rubber large enough to knock my truck off the road.
Looking back up to the road I see the truck has reached the cement divider the barrier between the north and southbound traffic.
The 2000 lb dump truck bounced off the wall like a rubber ball thrown against a brick wall.
As I passed the scene I turned to see two cars stopping to help. I remember thinking I would be more in the way than help. I see the driver, alive, awake, but stunned. No more than 20 feet ahead of the crash scene, a man standing near his silver sports car. It looks to be a very expensive very fast car.
He is not running to the dump truck, he is not looking back to see if the man is OK. I remember thinking a few expletives as I watch him rubbing his car fender, caressing it like a lover.
At first thought, still a bit in shock I actually thought he may have been the cause...
But when my head cleared a little I believe that maybe, just maybe that big piece of rubber popped up to hit his car.
And for the record, I didn't see a scratch, except maybe in his character.
