In a Moment

A tragedy can happen and a vibrant life can be lost in just one bad decision.  I made one of those thoughtless decisions the other day and lives and limbs were saved only by the grace of whoever watches over us.

I was under the assumption that there was no passing allowed on the highway at the entrance to our park so I made a potential fatal error by looking for traffic only to my left as I left the entrance and turned right and north onto the highway.

Emblazoned on my mind will always be the sight of a line of cars in the southbound lanes plus one car racing right towards me going south in the northbound lane.  There was a moment when I was aware there were 3 cars side by side on that highway and I really thought my time was up but the passing car got through somehow without hitting anyone.

As I drove on I noticed that the lines on the highway weren't both solid and that one was broken which could mean the passing car was in the right.  Now I'm not so sure and will check again,  The highway rules are that if the road has 2 center lines, one broken and one solid, there is no passing if the solid line is closest to you.

Regardless, there have been too many close calls at our entrance and exit to our park and I'll be checking both north and south every time from now on.

Update:  Right in front of our park there is only one center line and it's a broken one which means passing is allowed.  It's still better to look both ways before entering a highway even if no passing is allowed, though, because some people will pass any way.  Better safe than crippled or dead.