So, Macy got to witness her first car accident yesterday on the way home from school. No, we weren't involved. But this accident happened right in front of us as we were approaching the University Drive exit off I-94. It started when a minivan about fifty yards ahead of us and in the far left lane (we were in the rightmost lane with a center lane in between) appeared to lose control when it tried to slow down. From what I could tell, the minivan wasn't really speeding, but when the driver applied the brakes the van fishtailed.
The driver fought it admirably, and we watched as it simultaneously tried to stop, get facing the right direction, and avoid the cars that were stopped all around it. In the end, the driver did a pretty good job, only dinging one of the cars as it finally came to a stop.
Enter the Impatient Lady in the White Car. Just as the minivan was finally stopping, I noticed a fender bender had occurred on my side of the road and two cars were pulled partway onto the shoulder. The car ahead of me stopped. I stopped. Did I mention there was a large truck in the center lane that I had just passed by right before all this happened?
Anyway, I'm guessing here, but I think what happened was the ILitWC passed that truck, cutting in front of it either from my lane (behind me) or from the far left lane. All I know for sure is that while traffic everywhere else was either stopped or moving towards that end, a white sedan shot by me. I don't know excatly how fast she was going, but I if I had to guess I'd say somewhere between 30 and 40. By the time she realized her mistake, which was just as she passed my truck, it was too late. She hit the brakes, which did nothing. She took out the car that had stopped ahead of me and pieces of her car sprayed everywhere.
Macy was agog at the whole thing. She wasn't terrified or anything, but she was surprised. Her only comment at first was, "whoa". We were sitting about twenty feet from some fairly serious carnage.
The ILitWC by far took the most damage. I saw her pound her steering wheel in what I took to be frustration. I figured if she could get mad, she probably wasn't hurt that badly. The car she hit was spun around but didn't seem to take nearly as much damage, and the driver looked okay to me. The group involved in the fender bender had already been standing outside their cars at the time, so they were fine. Since no one appeared to need any immediate help, I decided to get out of there before another ILitWC came along and rearended me.
It turns out that what started the whole thing was another fender bender about 100 yards further down the road. All in all, one person was treated for a minor neck injury. Everyone else involved seems to be unhurt.
Thankfully, Macy won't be driving for another seven or eight years.
(+ 1,000,000,000 internet points if you know where the title of this post comes from without binging it or going here.)
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