Well now THAT was a first
Travel September 28th, 2007I had a commute today to beat all commutes. It started out so normal. But as soon as I turned onto Rt. 512, things got a little interesting.
Route 512 is a four-laned, divided road (highway in reality, given the speeds people drive). I turned onto it and was greeted by a fairly open road. I traveled along for about a quarter mile before coming upon another car — DRIVING THE WRONG WAY.
This is the first time I’ve ever encountered a wrong-way driver, so I didn’t know what to do except to slow down. The first thing I thought was "Who could be drunk at this hour?"
The driver was mercifully driving slowly and weaving around only a little. I decided it’d be best to come to a full stop and put my four-ways on to alert all the drivers behind me. All of us stopped, but the assumed-to-be-drunk driver kept going…. or coming, as it were.
On approach, I could get a better look inside the car. I was wrong about the driver being drunk. The driver was not drunk at all. The driver was an old woman who could barely see over the steering wheel. I shuddered when I saw this. And I shuddered some more when it was obvious she had no intentions of stopping or correcting her mistake.
I just kept sitting there, watching things unfold in my rear-view mirror. There she went, staying in her wrong lane while all the other correct-way drivers got into single file to give her all the room she needed.
After observing her make it all the way to the next light, I had to assume that at some point she’d find her way. Or that someone else would be able to stop her. I mean, what exactly is the protocol for this? Do you call 911? Do you jump out of your car and flail your arms in front of her? Do you dare?
All I can do is thank God she wasn’t driving full speed. Otherwise, this might have been a whole different kind of post.
Lady, I hope you made it where you were going safely. And I hope you stop driving. Forever.
Stumble it!
September 28th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
Scary. One one hand, I feel sorry for these old folks (it must be hard to give up driving), but on the other hand: YOU’RE GOING TO KILL SOMEONE!
I’m just waiting for the day my elderly mother-in-law (“I can make out shapes”) hurts herself or someone else despite all our urging to turn in her keys.
I don’t know what I’d have done in that situation–probably the same as you. But in hindsight, maybe calling 911 isn’t a bad idea. It does seem extreme, but if nothing else it might scare the old lady into realizing she’s GOING TO KILL SOMEONE!
September 28th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
@ JD — I am sympathetic to her situation. Indeed, we’ll all be there someday, having to make a tough decision. It was just so scary to see her continue down the road, like everything was fine.
I’m re-running everything through my head, and I feel like I should have done more. She might have been ill or having some kind of medical emergency that made her disoriented.
I’ve been thinking of this woman all morning. I hope she and everyone else she may have come in contact with is OK.
September 28th, 2007 at 6:50 pm
Thank God no-one got killed. I would assume that the elderly driver already knew she shouldn’t have been driving. I think it would be a good time to give up after that.
I know a lot of elderly persons whose only means of transport is to drive themselves due to lack of support from family and local transport. Not at least, in that it gives them some form of independence, which they don’t have much of.
In the end, the eyes go, the teeth go, the hair goes. The last thing they don’t want to give up is driving. Sought of reminds them of their youth, I suppose. It will happen to all of us eventually.
God help us all!
Regards
Peter McCartney
Sydney Australia.
September 28th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
@ Peter — You’re so right. If there are no services or family to drive people around, what do you do?
When I was a kid, we lived in a borough where you could walk half a block and get a bus to downtown (one of my fondest memories by the way — Saturdays to the library, shopping and lunch!). But there is no downtown unless you’re in the thriving city. Bus service does not come to my doorstep here.
But when I’m older, I have every intention to live where I can grab a bus and get much of what I need myself. At least that’s the plan.
September 29th, 2007 at 5:00 am
That’s sad. If I’m ever faced with a similar situation, I’ll probably call 911. I’d probably also try to flag her down, but that’d probably be dangerous.
October 3rd, 2007 at 11:48 pm
And this is why I firmly believe that all drivers over 65 should be re-tested, then again every five years until they take away their licences… sorry, it sounds harsh, but I have seen too many near misses because of the elderly behind the wheel.