Near Crash

[olddog]

I was in town on a four lane street. Speed limit is 35, but traffic runs 45. I was in the left lane, and there was a young boy and girl on a motor scooter in front of me. They stopped to make a left turn. I stopped behind them about 3 or 4 car links back. Traffic was heavy both ways when I stopped. The traffic cleared in the right lane, but I decided to just wait.

I was watching a car coming up behind me. He had pulled a big lead on the cars in the right lane (they just left a traffic light), so I knew he was comming fairly fast. When he didn't slow down and didn't change lanes, I started pumping my brake lights at him to get his attention. He locked up the brakes at this point. Although I could have pulled into the other lane and got out of the way, I thought that it would cut off his ability to change lanes and may cause him to hit the kids in front of me. Strange how fast that went through my head. I decided to stay in the lane and if necessary use my car to protect the kids.

The guy was too much in panic mode to realize all he had to do was let off the brake and change lanes. So he never made the lane change that I was hoping he would do.

As he slid closer I realized he was going to hit me, but he was almost stopped. So I pulled up to within a car link of the kids on the scooter and stopped. He got stopped about 10 feet behind me.

One I have decided to keep the Cobra off that road when traffic is heavy and roads like it.

Two stopping back with plenty of room is all that saved me. I tend to drive the Cobra like I was ridding a bike, and it sure did pay off.

I have to say the thought of loosing the Cobra was quite sickening, but had I took off and those kids had been killed, I would have found that much harder to deal with. I do not know if I made the right decision.