Posted on 07/06/2017 7:41:50 PM PDT by null and void
Because FReepers are awesome, I'd like help finding two drivers.
As my coworker tells the tale:
The names have been changed to protect the innocent </Dragnet>"A very scary story with a happy ending that has left me feeling helpless yet grateful... During yesterday's festivities we participated in our annual tradition of celebrating the 4th at a beach in Tahoe near my Mother-in-law's house. After the fireworks we made the mass exodus back to the house by foot. Traffic is usually pretty insane as everyone is also trying to leave the neighborhood after a long day of partying to get back to their lives.
For the most part there is not much humanity demonstrated and you seldom witness selfless acts of kindness. There were about 15 people in our group and we were split up walking on both sides of the street. Mind you, this is a back street in a residential area and typically there is not much traffic.
It just so happens there was a guardian angel driving a black SUV. He was at a stop sign at a four-way intersection and the cross-traffic (the direction we were walking along) did not have a stop sign. There was a larger group of people ahead of us that had already crossed in front of the black SUV. As we approached the intersection he was very polite and told us to just keep walking and that he wasn’t in any hurry.
Tammy was holding Moly’s hand (our five-year-old daughter) and shortly after crossing the street in front of our angel, Tammy heard him say out load “What is this guy doing!?!”
Just then Moly crouched down like she had dropped something and Tammy lost hold of Moly’s hand. In this split-second a parent’s worst nightmare almost happened in front of her eyes! Moly circled around behind Tammy’s back and immediately bolted across the street to catch up with my Mom.
There was an oversized truck speeding directly behind us going ~50mph. Our angel noticed this vehicle and made a split-second decision to pull out into the intersection forcing this vehicle to make a complete stop to avoid a car-accident. Being that our group had already crossed in front of the black SUV, our angel was looking in the opposite direction, so he didn’t see that Moly was darting out into the middle of the street.
This was when the relativity of time stopped completely. When Tammy had whipped around she saw the oversized truck barreling down the street, and she watched helplessly as she saw Moly run out directly into its path. She let out an earth-shattering scream that brought tears to the eyes of every mother within earshot!
Almost as the same time as Moly, our angel also darted out into the intersection bringing the oversized truck to a screeching halt, ultimately saving the life of my daughter!
Death is one of the only things in this life that is guaranteed and there is nothing that can prepare you for it when it unexpectedly happens to ones you love. There is nothing more heart-wrenching than when it happens to those who die young. As a parent, keeping your child safe is your sole purpose and the hardest job I have ever had to consider! It leaves me feeling so vulnerable knowing how close we came to a life-altering accident. I am grateful that we had a guardian angel watching over us and his actions alone is the sole reason we got to tuck our little girl into bed tonight. I wish I knew who it was so I could send him a Christmas card for the rest of my life!
I wish I also knew who was speeding through the residential neighborhood at 50mph at 10:30pm on the 4th of July when there are 100’s of people walking on a street with no sidewalks so I can also send him a Christmas gift every year that physically kicks him in the gonads!
I have relived this moment too many times to count and I have an overwhelming feeling of gratitude, because accidents happen daily and there are parents out there that do not get to tuck their little ones into bed tonight. It pulls at the heartstrings and it also leaves me with a feeling of helplessness. Life is so precious, and the fact that it is unpredictable, helps remind you how to love and cherish the small things that don’t seem so significant until they are gone."
Are we up to the challenge?
Do any of us know the driver angel?
I see collisions before they ever occur, most of the time it does no good because these incidents occur in a blink of an eye. But twice it did help people from being injured/killed. One time, all I had to do was quickly stand on my horn to to get attention of those in pending danger.
Btw, great story. This kind of thing happens more than most folks realize.
I have zero patients for people speeding through residential streets. And on the 4th and other holidays, the drunks and assorted AH's are out in force. Ya gotta be careful out there.
Thank goodness everyone was ok.
It's almost beyond the capability of normal humans...
Someone needs to teach little Molly to look both ways AND PAY ATTENTION before crossing the street.
My coworker was pretty rattled...
They have, but in the heat of the moment even the best of us can occasionally fail.
They had a guardian angel that night.
Also - leashes for children are a thing for just this reason. They should be used more often. Especially with little Molly, who just proved that she didn’t understand or couldn’t be trusted not to do something this dumb.
Split second...yep. Some folks on the roads are high skill drivers with inordinately fast reactions. Unfortunately most are not. In fact, from my perspective, the U.S. does a terrible job of training young drivers to drive. And the statistics repeatedly prove this out.
Speaking as someone who’s been in a similar situation - chances are the truck was just loud and wasn’t actually going that fast - because a large truck doing 50mph doesn’t stop quickly at all. The incident as recounted does not really make sense.
I was riding a motorcycle through a residential area on a street posted for 35mph. A child ran out in front of me; since I had seen the family well in advance I was actually doing 20mph and was easily able to stop in time. I was then beset by the family and neighbors who were all screeching about how I was going “twice the limit” and “SPEEDING SPEEDING SPEEDING” and should be ashamed of myself. I hadn’t been speeding, they simply had judged my speed by the noise my motorcycle was making (which is how most people ‘estimate’ a vehicle’s speed). My pleas fell on deaf ears, the police showed up and it kept getting worse and worse.
Unfortunately for the idiots in the lynch mob, I had a helmet camera. Even more unfortunately, I had captured the entire thing including a view of my speedometer which clearly indicated my reduced speed. I showed it to the cops and they eventually let me go.
I later found out that the police often disregard citizen estimates of speed due to just how bad people are at estimating speed.
There’s a school zone here that some old biddies sit around in lawn chairs and shout at people that go through ‘too fast.’ The zone is posted for 20mph. I roll through in first at 10-15mph. They routinely shout at me for ‘going too fast’ even though the cops have shown them with radar that I’m simply not speeding.
They should have had a kid leash.
God can dox a lot better than we can. Heavenly books.
If the fellow realizes that a tragedy was headed off and turns around, all the well. The angel protected him too.
But if he keeps on recklessly, well, proverbial karma awaits. To go arm in arm with the devil means eventually being brought to his home when he returns there.
How about let’s just pray.
I will pass that on.
Agreed, but as an agnostic I’d prefer the certainty of the good driver getting Christmas photos of Tammy, Molly and her dad and sister, in addition to any possible Heavenly reward.
Maybe the bad driver as well?
God is actually far more certain than an arrangement of man, which might be entered into today and profusely apologized for tomorrow.
And if you hang unto bitterness for a tragedy which was averted, the bitterness will own you and an agnostic will find that a hell exists.
They aren’t agnostics.
Nor does he seem bitter, but grateful, humbled and appreciative.
Haven’t seen are talked to the wimmin...
Basically: it’s better to thank the Lord than it is to curse the Devil. Especially when the Lord delivered you from the Devil.
An agnostic might look into the virtues of believing. It would save you being hag-ridden for revenge.
So then why affect any contrary attitude?
Yes, I was sloppy about the details (I had the impression it happened to you, the way you were reacting to it). So sorry about that.
Still. This is the kind of thing that the bible and Christians call a “WITNESS.”
It can be accepted. Or it can be refused. And the consequences of doing that taken either way. Don’t swallow poison in hopes that the other person might die. Maybe that speeder actually was literally from hell, in which case you’d never ever catch him and you’d be as frustrated as Inspector Javert in Les Miserables. Only God would, at the judgment day.
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