I’ve been driving for more than 30 years. I often toot my horn at people who stray into my lane to get their attention. I’ve swerved off the road to avoid a speeding driver who didn’t have complete control of his vehicle, going around a curve downhill. My thought is that the dead driver was also distracted and did not notice that she was headed for a head-on collision as well. I’m not familiar with where this happened so I don’t know if she was in bumper-to-bumper traffic and couldn’t maneuver or was too frightened to react. Either way, it’s a sad story.
I have been driving for 36 years. I've done my share of very dangerous, stupid, and arrogant driving where I endangered many lives beyond my own (hot-rodder young kid on mountain back roads). I can think of MANY times, and DO think of them now especially, where I realize that if the car coming my way swerved into my lane, there would be no defensive measure I could take to save myself. Many roads I drive regularly leave little or zero room for maneuver without inevitably resulting in disaster anyway, whether by speed, geography, or both.
That must have been spooky. Bet it got your adrenaline running! I don't know if you know San Marcos Pass, a mostly two-lane shortcut over the mountains behind Santa Barbara north toward Santa Maria (instead of along the coast through Gaviota). Coming over that road one day, I was surprised when a car had chosen to pass, in a no-passing-striped curve, right where I needed to be. Thank goodness there was a shoulder barely big enough to let me squeeze to the side without flipping my car, while the other regular driver coming opposite did the same, allowing the idiot enough room to get through, all choreographed at speed of 45 to 50 mph.
It was nearly a mile later that the adrenalin flooding my body forced me to pull over by the side of the road and get a grip. Had I tried to stand, my knees would have been jelly.
Thank you, God!