i almost hit a pedestrian today

[schwza]

i was driving through a smallish town today on a fairly wide road in a residential area. in between towns the speed limit on this road was relatively high (maybe 40?), and lower in towns.

i notice that two people have stepped off the side of the road, obviously waiting to cross. they're right behind a parked car, so i can only see them from about the shoulders up. it's obvious they're not going to cross, but as i drive closer a little kid, probably two or three years old, dashes out in front of my car.

this kid was very close to my car when he ran out. i slammed on the brakes and on the horn and the kid made it past me to the other side of the side of the road. my car didn't come to a stop until my front bumper was ~10 feet in front of the kid's path, so if he crossed the road a little slower i would have hit him.

i would have been going slowly so he probably would have been ok, but there could've been a chance he got caught beneath the wheels or something. (in retrospect, hitting the horn probably didn't help anything, but it was a pretty automatic reflex). if i hadn't seen him immediately - which i probably wouldn't have if i hadn't noticed his parents standing by the side of the road - i'm pretty sure i would have hit him and killed him.

if i had hit him, my life would have been pretty [censored]. i generally drive more slowly than most people in residential areas, but i honestly don't know how fast i was driving or what the speed limit was. it's possible i could've faced criminal prosecution, and it might have come down to the word of me and gf against the word of the parents about how fast i was going and what exactly happened. there were other people on the street but who knows what their recollection would have been. i wouldn't be surprised if there would have been a big lawsuit. and i would have felt incredibly guilty about it, absoluately crushed.

anyway, i'm just thankful it turned out fine. i do kind of want to smack that kid's parents though.