Bad luck or good luck?

[cjsmith]

I almost got creamed a few minutes ago by a guy in a white truck running a red light. (According to one of my friendsfriends I am more at fault than someone who runs red lights, because he hates women who put on makeup in cars. (Note that I was not, nor have I ever, put on makeup while driving a car.) But that's neither here nor there.) Because the timing was just right, or because when he leaned on the horn he ALSO hit the brakes, or whatever, he didn't actually hit me. It was very close and then he was gone, zooming off to make a left onto Central.

Bad luck to encounter him at all, or good luck to be spared a new car purchase and probable injury?

Sorta like the time I inhaled a bee but didn't get stung.

I'm still a little shaky.

Comments

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[wordweaverlynn.livejournal.com]

Good luck because you escaped. But yeesh -- that's terrifying.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

He was moving very fast. Definitely scary.

[datagoddess.livejournal.com]

Yipes!! I'm glad you're OK!!

Of course, using his horn make him automagically in the right, right? </sarcasm>

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

Maybe he needed the horn because being male and driving a big truck weren't somehow enough to make him automagically in the right. In that case, hey!, something he and I would agree on!

What scares me is that if this had been an accident, it would be all he-said she-said. Whose light was green? Unless the person in the lane next to me appeared and offered testimony, it'd be one person's word against another. And the kind of person who leans on a horn when nearly smashing someone because he ran the red light is not exactly someone I figure would be honest in court. (Not that I think most people would be honest about this one, frankly.) So there's a big chance I'd get bad financial repercussions as well even though I'd done nothing wrong.

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

Hugs. I hate that -- I hate that shaky feeling, the whole thing.

I'm glad he didn't hit you.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Me too. How confident are you that if it went to court he'd fess up to running the light? ...me neither.

[karenbynight.livejournal.com]

The degree to which people run red lights in this city seems to me to be going up, and is quite scary. Every time I run a yellow light and then think, that was dumb; I'll do better next time, I look in my rear-view and see a car who trailed me through it.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Traffic planners will often adjust the lag time between one light going red and a conflicting one going green for this sort of thing, but I suspect the drivers simply adjust their behavior in turn. In Boston (at least when I lived there) people count multiple cars through the red before they decide to stop. My boss at Saber got a ticket once for being number seven.

[jb98.livejournal.com]

You're very lucky! You could have been seriously injured or killed if he hit you. Glad you're OK. *hugz*

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

He was coming from my right, so even if he T-boned me it's quite possible I'd have survived with minor injuries and my car would have been totaled.

Still, that would have been bad enough. I too am very glad I'm OK! Thanks!

[dizzdvl.livejournal.com]

Eeek scary! Glad you are ok! (I only put on lip gloss in the car and I do it when I am stopped.) And I wish cops would pull people over for running red lights. They claim they have better things to do, but then they hang out and smoke in front of convenience stores around here.

And how did you inhale a bee?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! As for the bee, I was out running (this was back when I could run) and breathing hard, and I just schnorked him right up my nose. I didn't know that's what it was until I blew my nose. I couldn't decide whether I'd used up a week's worth of bad luck by inhaling a bee or a week's worth of good luck that he didn't sting me inside my head.

[tsjafo.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you are safe. Traffic is starting to terrify me. Not so much when I'm driving, but when my loved ones (http://tsjafo.livejournal.com/2684.html) are on the road.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh YIKES what a story. Yes, traffic is indeed scary, and often there's not a lot we can do to make ourselves safer in the face of that kind of driving.

[wooddragon.livejournal.com]

Jeez, what a dangerous moron. Thank goodness he managed to miss you... Dork.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I'm really glad the timing was juuuuust right on that. I wasn't all the way into his lane by the time he came screaming through.

One thing that scares me is that he's probably *not* that bad a driver (compared to the general pool). I admit that right now I'm not too pleased to share a road with other human beings.

[dawnd.livejournal.com]

Glad you're ok!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[cassidyrose.livejournal.com]

Eek! Glad you are OK.

I know how those close-calls can make one really shakey.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Doncha hate that shaky feeling? Ugh. Nothing for it but time, either. Wait for the post-adrenaline wibbles to fade.

[ckd]

Whew! I'm glad you didn't get hit.

I'd call it bad luck to encounter him outweighed by the good luck of not getting into an accident even once you did encounter him.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Yes, I like that interpretation of the luck-accounting! :-)

[veazeyae.livejournal.com]

That's definitely -good- luck. Glad to hear you're OK.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

The "no actual crunch" is big time good luck!

[lesliepear.livejournal.com]

Definitely good luck. My husband had a close call himself today.

More fun to shop for a new car when you aren't in a rush!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh yikes! Glad he's okay as well. (And yeah, I am hoping to postpone new car shopping until somebody makes a SMALL hybrid car. It'll be a while.)

[jcgbigler.livejournal.com]

I can relate (http://jcgbigler.livejournal.com/21681.html).

In addition to the above, I remember an incident from the early 1990s, in which I was driving my girlfriend and self to work. A driver ran a red light and I had to swerve quite a ways to avoid the accident. Afterwards, my girlfriend was staring open-mouthed. I thought she might not have been looking at the road and didn't know the reason for the swerve, so I said, "That car just ran the red light and I had to swerve to avoid an accident." She replied, "Not that. Your coffee! You didn't even spill a drop!" At which point I looked and noticed that I did indeed still have a coffee cup in my right hand.

Glad you're OK. *hug*

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Ouch, yes, I remember when you posted that. Scary.

The coffee anecdote is perfect. THAT is a Boston driver!

Thanks. *hugback*

[rampling.livejournal.com]

Phew, phew, phew! So glad it turned out OK! *hugs*

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I was even fairly calm driving through that intersection again this morning. (It's on my commute.)

[kineticphoenix.livejournal.com]

How scary! I'm glad you're okay!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It sure did rattle me.

Good luck, bad luck...

[zyxwvut.livejournal.com]

...whatever. Bottom line, you're okay, and we're all glad of that.

Z

P.S.: Hi, I wandered in here, as part of my "I want to poke my head into the journals that I haven't seen in a while" project.

Re: Good luck, bad luck...

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Maybe I used up all my luck of both flavors for the week and will now have a few days with no particular luck at all. :-)

Hi! Welcome!