Friday, July 14, 2006

Oncoming

We were sitting at the lights yesterday waiting to turn right. The straight ahead lane light turned from red to green. The right hand turn arrow remained red. The car at the front of our queue instinctively powered into the intersection turning right...into the path of oncoming traffic. Fortunately there was only one car and a collision was narrowly avoided. Fortunate for the 3 kids in the back. School holidays and all.

Sometimes, I get preoccupied with where I'm going. The lure of the destination seduces me into carelessness with the process of arriving. It becomes second nature to rush when waiting is the wiser choice. To take a short cut to maintain the illusion of faster progress. So far, I've been able to avoid a head-on, but its not a smart way to drive.

I get distracted by those who ask, "Are we there yet?" In those moments its tempting to understate the remaining journey, "No, not far now." This does not serve them well, nor me - if its not far now, then more speed, more speed. And we're still arriving for some time yet...

There are those around me who sound a warning from time to time. Its tempting to ignore the horn blasts: what red light? Its easy to misinterpret warnings as criticism - 90% of people believe they are above average drivers...mostly its down to them that I've stayed safe. Its a good thing for all of us that we have each other.

The guy second in line wasn't watching the lights either - he was watching the car in front, and blindly followed into the intersection and the oncoming...makes you think.

Jonesbeep

3 comments:

jeanie said...

One of the many useful things we got told at uni was "the shortcut isn't necessarily shorter but is often longer than the 'long' way".

Geekery said...

The short cut is only longer if you get caught doing 70 in 50 by a cop..... not that thats ever happened to me....

BJ said...

I got caught doing 63 once...

"Name...Brett Jones
Occupation...Rather be somewhere else"

I could see them laughing in the cop car behind me as she clearly mouthed "He's a pastor"