Near miss with a Greyhound this morning
To the driver of the red Jeep heading west on Hwy. 7 into Kitchener this morning... you're an idiot, and very nearly cost the lives of several people today.
Normally, if it were just me involved, I could just forgive and move on. But today, after you endangered your life, my life, the life of the lady behind me, and the lives of all the folks on the Hwy. 7 westbound Greyhound bus this morning... well, I can still forgive, but I do want to ensure this incident is recorded, in the hopes that it somehow makes it's way back to you.
I had business in Kitchener this morning, and was heading east to Guelph on Hwy. 7 after that at 7:45am. At the junction of Woolwich-Guelph Townline, for some reason, most likely impatience it seems, you decided to make use of that insanely narrow gap in traffic to gun your way onto Hwy. 7 west. You knew what you'd done was wrong by the way you gunned it onto the shoulder, I think intending to use that to gather speed and merge into a gap. (Based on your driving, however, I do wonder if that's your regular route and if that's a regular manouver you pull... and as such, I'd welcome members of the OPP to meet up with you there one morning to identify and charge you one of these days)
What you didn't realize, however, was that you didn't leave enough room for the bus to miss you, and as such, you forced him well into my lane to avoid hitting you. This of course caused a very near miss with me as he tried to get back into his lane, and had I not been able to swerve to miss him (I still wonder how I managed that, there wasn't any concious thought on my part, just reaction) you would have caused a headon collision at a combined speed of somewhere likely in excess of 160kms/h.
Further adding to the potential loss of life was the fact that we were at the top of an embankment, into which the bus would have most likely rolled due to the force of the impact. Then add to this the oncoming traffic that was behind me, who would have been unable to avoid the swirling mess of glass, metal and bodies, and you could well have been responsible for the loss of significant life this morning.
I hope you enjoy your day. I know I will be, with the new-found appreciation of life that I suddenly find myself with this morning.
Shaken, but not stirred,
CC
Normally, if it were just me involved, I could just forgive and move on. But today, after you endangered your life, my life, the life of the lady behind me, and the lives of all the folks on the Hwy. 7 westbound Greyhound bus this morning... well, I can still forgive, but I do want to ensure this incident is recorded, in the hopes that it somehow makes it's way back to you.
I had business in Kitchener this morning, and was heading east to Guelph on Hwy. 7 after that at 7:45am. At the junction of Woolwich-Guelph Townline, for some reason, most likely impatience it seems, you decided to make use of that insanely narrow gap in traffic to gun your way onto Hwy. 7 west. You knew what you'd done was wrong by the way you gunned it onto the shoulder, I think intending to use that to gather speed and merge into a gap. (Based on your driving, however, I do wonder if that's your regular route and if that's a regular manouver you pull... and as such, I'd welcome members of the OPP to meet up with you there one morning to identify and charge you one of these days)
What you didn't realize, however, was that you didn't leave enough room for the bus to miss you, and as such, you forced him well into my lane to avoid hitting you. This of course caused a very near miss with me as he tried to get back into his lane, and had I not been able to swerve to miss him (I still wonder how I managed that, there wasn't any concious thought on my part, just reaction) you would have caused a headon collision at a combined speed of somewhere likely in excess of 160kms/h.
Further adding to the potential loss of life was the fact that we were at the top of an embankment, into which the bus would have most likely rolled due to the force of the impact. Then add to this the oncoming traffic that was behind me, who would have been unable to avoid the swirling mess of glass, metal and bodies, and you could well have been responsible for the loss of significant life this morning.
I hope you enjoy your day. I know I will be, with the new-found appreciation of life that I suddenly find myself with this morning.
Shaken, but not stirred,
CC
Labels: crime
posted by Christian Conservative @ 8:06 a.m.
6 Comments:
At Mon Nov 23, 09:30:00 a.m. EST,
Top Can said…
Good to hear you're okay. God was watching out for you, that's for sure.
At Mon Nov 23, 12:07:00 p.m. EST,
Anonymous said…
I was just wondering how you can forgive when the driver hasn't asked for forgiveness?
At Mon Nov 23, 02:45:00 p.m. EST,
Unknown said…
First and for most, I would like to appologize to the poster as I was the driver of the Greyhound Coach. I tried braking, but at that speed and at that instance even if I had locked up my brakes I still would have hit him!!! But when I looked at you I knew you were paying attetion, hence I was able to go in between both vehicles.
When that vehicle passed me near Breslau he did not even remotely think how lucky everyone was including himself, as he honked at me while driving off. This behaviour encouraged me to memorize his number plate and if need be I will recite it!
I only found out about this blog as it had made its way to my work but once again I do appologize!
Paul
At Mon Nov 23, 03:12:00 p.m. EST,
Christian Conservative said…
"Paul"... I see that Greyhound Corp. has been reading this post, so I'll say it again, a job VERY well done... it was a work of defensive driving artistry.
Furthermore... call it in to the OPP. You can reach me at cc[at]christianconservative[dot]ca. Have your office send me an e-mail with contact info, and I'll show up to file the report with you.
At Tue Nov 24, 12:12:00 a.m. EST,
Anonymous said…
I wish that I could first convey how unlikely I am to comment on something like this (though not for lack of care/concern). Realizing that I cannot...
*
I am extremely happy that you (CC) and the bus driver (Paul)... and everyone else, are OK.
Too many people treat driving as if it were a competition; a video game. They do not appreciate how high the stakes are.
Whenever I am on the road (almost always as a passenger) I tell myself--and sometimes feel the need to tell the driver--that driving is [or should be conceived of as] an exercise of cooperation. It is not a competition. The admonition: "arrive alive" is about every life. Even Mr. Red Jeep's.
I feel safer knowing that there are people out there who in some way know this, and act accordingly.
*
I consider myself an agnostic... but with all due respect to Top Can Inc's comment, I will say that 'God works in mysterious ways.'
*
-Anon1152
At Tue Nov 24, 12:03:00 p.m. EST,
Anonymous said…
I just can't believe that Paul and CC met up. What are the odds?!
Mike Wisniewski
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