It was dark. Driving in my car up a slight rise, a young deer suddenly appeared in my lights to the side of the road. It startled me. I lost focus for a micro-second. That was enough.
Looking back to the two-lane highway where the beams of my lights directed me north, another fawn appeared the middle of the road. Instantaneously I jammed the brakes and yanked the steering wheel right, the car swerving.
So, so close. Almost missed it. Not quite. The front left bumper grazed the young deer ever-so-slightly. There was the telltale “bam” of plastic/metal meeting the fawn. It stunned me, traumatized me, but I had to move on.
Afterwards (a day or so, looking back), I got into the “what if” game. What if I’d done this instead? What if x, y or z hadn’t happened?
It made me consider the variables necessary for an accident to occur. Time and place certainly come into play. If you weren’t at the exact time and location, you wouldn’t have had the accident. It was random circumstances.
That evening I took a different route than I normally did to the basketball game I was going to referee. Why did I do that? It’s slightly odd. I’m not a big user of GPS on my phone to direct me to where I’m driving. I tend to keep extensive directions and knowledge in my brain to know where I’m headed.
That night though, I chose to use GPS, instead of my regular route to the high school. The new route was where the accident occurred. Random.
If I’d driven to the game slightly earlier, it would still have been light out rather than dark. My eyesight would have been better. It would have been easier to see the deer from farther away. Again, another random factor likely contributing to the accident.
Here’s another thought: what if another car had been in front of me? They would have braked and startled the deer away (hopefully not making contact). There would not have been a deer in the road if I was right behind another vehicle.
Similarly, if a car had come from the opposite direction and illuminated the road, the deer would likely have fled before I arrived. A seemingly small variable like that could have prevented the accident.
My wife uses her bright car lights regularly. She wants to know what’s ahead, what might be lurking to the sides of roads. I don’t do this. What if, instead, I’d taken her perspective and regularly used my brights while driving down country roads? I’d have one less cracked front bumper.
Slight threads change things. Random variables can cause things.
I continue to contemplate this. Not really the “why” of the accident. You’ll never figure that out.
But, I do focus on all those variables that had to come together for the accident to occur. Remove one of them, or add another, and you drive away with no event.
Do I have any advice? Not much, and it’s pretty basic.
Be careful. Look for deer. Use your brights on lonely country roads. Know your route. Accidents are sometimes just accidents.
Looking back to the two-lane highway where the beams of my lights directed me north, another fawn appeared the middle of the road. Instantaneously I jammed the brakes and yanked the steering wheel right, the car swerving.
So, so close. Almost missed it. Not quite. The front left bumper grazed the young deer ever-so-slightly. There was the telltale “bam” of plastic/metal meeting the fawn. It stunned me, traumatized me, but I had to move on.
Afterwards (a day or so, looking back), I got into the “what if” game. What if I’d done this instead? What if x, y or z hadn’t happened?
It made me consider the variables necessary for an accident to occur. Time and place certainly come into play. If you weren’t at the exact time and location, you wouldn’t have had the accident. It was random circumstances.
That evening I took a different route than I normally did to the basketball game I was going to referee. Why did I do that? It’s slightly odd. I’m not a big user of GPS on my phone to direct me to where I’m driving. I tend to keep extensive directions and knowledge in my brain to know where I’m headed.
That night though, I chose to use GPS, instead of my regular route to the high school. The new route was where the accident occurred. Random.
If I’d driven to the game slightly earlier, it would still have been light out rather than dark. My eyesight would have been better. It would have been easier to see the deer from farther away. Again, another random factor likely contributing to the accident.
Here’s another thought: what if another car had been in front of me? They would have braked and startled the deer away (hopefully not making contact). There would not have been a deer in the road if I was right behind another vehicle.
Similarly, if a car had come from the opposite direction and illuminated the road, the deer would likely have fled before I arrived. A seemingly small variable like that could have prevented the accident.
My wife uses her bright car lights regularly. She wants to know what’s ahead, what might be lurking to the sides of roads. I don’t do this. What if, instead, I’d taken her perspective and regularly used my brights while driving down country roads? I’d have one less cracked front bumper.
Slight threads change things. Random variables can cause things.
I continue to contemplate this. Not really the “why” of the accident. You’ll never figure that out.
But, I do focus on all those variables that had to come together for the accident to occur. Remove one of them, or add another, and you drive away with no event.
Do I have any advice? Not much, and it’s pretty basic.
Be careful. Look for deer. Use your brights on lonely country roads. Know your route. Accidents are sometimes just accidents.
