Close Call(s)

Wow. I saw two accidents happen in front of me this past weekend. I'm talking a difference of a couple of minutes, and I could easily have been involved in either of one of them.

The first one was on Friday, at the intersection right in front of my apartment. We were about 1000 ft away, and I couldn't tell exactly what transpired, but it looked like one person was trying to turn left and maybe another was going straight. As soon as the two vehicles collided, the driver who was turning left was completely motionless. My mom and I went grocery shopping, and when we came out, there were at least two fire trucks and a couple of police cars right at the scene, and traffic was backed up in all four directions of the intersection. We had to wait in a line to get out of the parking lot. I had no idea my apartment was at such a dangerous intersection.

The second accident happened today, on 635 East (an incredibly busy highway in Dallas), when we were coming back from the temple. My mom heard a screeching noise, so I looked in my rearview mirror, and saw a car moving perpendicular to traffic (i.e. from one concrete barrier to the other). Needless to say, there was lots of contact, and traffic was probably backed up for at least a couple of miles. My mom also pointed out that there would probably be more accidents further down, since traffic was moving so fast. If we had left the temple a couple of minutes later, or had a red light instead of a green one somewhere earlier, we very easily could have been involved. (I could get all religious, and say that since we went to temple, that's the reason we were ok, but I won't).

I've always said I hate Dallas drivers, and maybe a lot of that was because I was used to the Austin way of driving -- slower, and less aggressive. I've seen firsthand this weekend that they really can't drive, and that if you don't watch your back, this is probably one of the most dangerous places to drive in the United States.