I had a scary moment this morning as I waited in my car at Hallie’s bus stop. I had just leaned over to the passenger window to hand Hallie her lunch box when I happened to look up in the rear-view mirror. A tricked-out grey Honda Civic was barrelling down on me, its driver jerking his car back into the lane mere feet from smashing into me.
What if my car hadn’t been between him and the three kids waiting at the bus stop, one of which was mine? What if he had smashed into me and sent me barrelling into the kids? What happens when I’m not there to witness or protect against these terrifying incidents?
We’re a family not accustomed to riding the bus, being within walking distance of Hallie’s last school (and Travis’s current one). Taking the bus avoids the long wait in the school’s carpool line, true, and perhaps I’m being a helicopter parent. Still, this morning’s near-disaster makes me wonder if putting a safe, steel box around my child during her school commute isn’t the way to go.
On a similar note, Kelly and the kids witnessed a scary car wreck on Sunday. They were in our old Windsor Forest neighborhood, taking a look at our old home, when a drunk driver came roaring around the corner, smashing into a car at the curb and bouncing off of it to smash into another neighbor’s car. He never hit the brakes and his bare wheel rim gouged a ten-foot hole in the pavement.
It was 10 AM and the guy could barely stand up.
Maybe as a society we need to better stress the responsibility that comes from being behind the wheel.