I'm back! ...with a story.

Ok, I've not blogged in a long.. long.. time, a link to my old blog can be found over there--->

On to my story, with a moral.


It's been a while ago that Evan (#2 son, 6yrs old at the time) had a near miss. He ran out in front of a car and was almost hit. We have preached and preached to look both ways, twice, but in the heat of the street he didn't. It kind of happened like this;

We crossed the street to see the neighbors new pool deck. They have a couple younger kids and Evan took a toy truck over to play with. When we all were walking back Evan had to run back and get his truck. I turned around to watch him cross the street. He was running down the driveway in-between two cars they had parked down by the street. And there was a car coming....  a Buick.... with an elderly woman behind the wheel. Ahhhhhh!
Here is a small illustration. (Click to enlarge)

I panicked and yelled for him to STOP!! And the I witnessed something incredible. This elderly lady looked like Dale Jr. in that Buick. With cat like reflexes, she stood that car on it's nose and swerved left avoiding my son.

Some random thoughts;

- How in sam hell did she see him with those goggle style sunglasses? He appeared from nowhere!

- How did she react that fast?! Prior, I'm betting a mosquito would have drained her before she got him..

- Enough leg strength to lock'em up?

Then came the eye opening thoughts that lead to the moral of the story.

- Thank the good lord that was not a texting teenager.

- Thank the good lord she was not speeding, like the teenagers do.

- Thank the good lord she was not on a cell phone!

People criticize elderly drivers, I've done it before (normally from driving too slow). Here are a few interesting facts you should know before yelling at our senior citizens.

- A 2007 study posted in Science Daily says that drivers 65 and older are only 1/3 as likely to cause an accident than 15-24yr olds, and not much more likely than 25-64 yr olds.

- Drivers 65 and older accounted for 15% of licensed drivers however only caused 7% of the accidents. Drivers 15-24yrs old accounted for only 13% of licensed drivers and caused 43% of accidents.

Moral of the story, don't judge elderly drivers, one probably saved my sons life! I did thank that blue haired angel, and then "disciplined" my son!


Have a great night and hug a senior citizen today!

D

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070719115903.htm