![]() |
|
#1
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
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. |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
I've thought about situations like that in the past, as there are a few streets around where I live where it is really, really easy to speed without feeling like you are going too fast.
I'm glad for all involved that it just turned out to be a scare. |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
Did you stop or just keep driving?
|
#4
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
give the finger to the kid ftw
|
#5
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
[ QUOTE ]
Did you stop or just keep driving? [/ QUOTE ] i was stopped in the road where i stopped for maybe 5-10 seconds. then i pulled up a few hundred feet and pulled over so i could collect my [censored]. i thought for a second about whether i should go back and say something to the parents but i couldn't see what the point would be. |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
[ QUOTE ]
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. [/ QUOTE ] ? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] ? if you stopped in front of his path, how would you have hit him? |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] 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. [/ QUOTE ] ? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] ? if you stopped in front of his path, how would you have hit him? [/ QUOTE ] In relation to the car, I believe he means. { } <----stopped car ------ <-----kid's path [] [] <----car's path (moving up) [] [] The car passed the kid's path, so it stopped in front of the path. EDIT: My illustration sucks. |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
Obey the speed limits .... the cops would have measured your tire skid marks and would have been able to extrapolate your speed. If you were obeying the law = ok. if not = [censored]
glad it worked out ... |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
[ QUOTE ]
Obey the speed limits .... the cops would have measured your tire skid marks and would have been able to extrapolate your speed. If you were obeying the law = ok. if not = [censored] glad it worked out ... [/ QUOTE ] i believe i was following the speed limit, at least in the "32 in a 25" sense, but i can't be sure. also i took my foot off the gas for a second or two when i saw the parents at the curb so that probably slowed me down a little bit too. i might have hit the brake when i saw them also, but i'm not sure. one of the worst parts of all of it if i had hit the kid would be not knowing how fast i was driving (especially if it couldn't be determined from skidmarks). it could've made for some terrible courtroom decisions (lie and say i was definitely going no more than 20 vs tell the truth and say i don't really know). i know i wouldn't have said anything at all until i had a lawyer present, i've learned enough from law and order to know that. edit: someone mentioned booze. i was totally sober and i hadn't had a drop of alcohol all day. |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] 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. [/ QUOTE ] ? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] ? if you stopped in front of his path, how would you have hit him? [/ QUOTE ] In relation to the car, I believe he means. { } <----stopped car ------ <-----kid's path [] [] <----car's path (moving up) [] [] The car passed the kid's path, so it stopped in front of the path. EDIT: My illustration sucks. [/ QUOTE ] yeah, your illustration does kind of suck, but you're right. i was beyond the kid's path. |
![]() |
|
|