Today i witnessed an auto accident, just barely escaping it myself. It didn't appear that anyone was seriously hurt. Nevertheless, that instant things happened -- those seconds as the event unfolds were unpredictable and scary.

This was what happened....

I'm traveling north on Interstate 285, four lanes of traffic, at about 65 mile per hour. In an instant, i heard an impact to my left, saw debris flying out of the corner of my eye. Then a car came spiraling out of control toward me. I broke to avoid it. Ahead, another vehicle, a SUV, began swerving to maintain control. I continued to reduce my speed and prepare for evasive action. The car, an early model Accord, ricocheted pass me. The late model Pathfinder regained control on a bad damaged right front wheel and stopped in the middle of the freeway. The injured Accord came to rest in the grassy shoulder. I pulled over in the emergency lane about 50 yards from the Accord. I waited a second for any secondary impacts; I thought about my good fortune and about just continuing on to my designation. But, i got out of my car and walked over to the Accord to check on it's occupants. A large lady was the driver; she appeared dazed and two young kid were calm in the back seat. The kids, ages six or seven, were okay. The driver's side window was shattered. The driver groaned but otherwise appeared to be alright. She asked if i have hit her. I told her that i had not and I pointed to the vehicle that had struck her now slowly moving to the emergency lane. She asked me to help her find her glasses. I couldn't see that they were in the car. I told her that she would be all right and that i would call 911. On the way back to my car, I passed the driver of the SUV walking towards the Accord. He confessed that he was only trying to change lanes. He continued over to the woman's vehicle. I got in my car and accelerated back into traffic.
As much as i drive, it's easy to take for granted leaving home and getting to ones designation safety. A lot can happen along the way. If you are unlucky enough to be delayed, let the damage be only to the vehicle. In the meanwhile, the rest of world drives pass. They have somewhere to be too.