Running Lines Drive safely, and I’m not just saying that ...

PEA RIDGE — Last Wednesday, I watched a wreck happen while driving in Bentonville.

I was moseying along on Walton Blvd., traffic was a little backed up because it was nearing time when the world of Wal-Mart tries to go home all at once. One car pulled across two lanes of northbound traffic in front of another car going south. It was if that driver didn’t notice there were any other cars on the road at all.

Two cars in front of me also witnessed the oblivious driver struck in the backside and spun an entire circle in the middle of four lanes. The first was a Benton County DeputySheriff. Come on, people...

The only collision I have been involved in myself was when I was rear-ended one rainy night in Colorado by a car that was also rearended by a driver asleep at the wheel.

I have been driving legally for about 12 years, I got my learner’s permit at 14. I am by no means any kind of expert. But I do know that defensive driving is the only defense against other drivers. I used to arguewith my parents about how good of a driver I was, and they would fire back with “you aren’t the only one on the road.” And then came the “Drive safely,” like clockwork when I headed out the door. I think they put that in parenting books, it seems to be universal.

That night in the rain, instead of taking my 3-yearold godson to the circus, I sat in my car for two hours waiting for emergency personnel to tell me it was OK to leave. My car was the only one able to drive away from the scene, and I was the only one not taken away in an ambulance. It took two weeks to get my car fixed, and longer for the insurance adjusters toinvestigate whether I was at fault or not.

I was recently on the scene of a fatal accident right here in Pea Ridge.

That day quite literally left me afraid to drive and I still can’t drive past the site of the accident and breath at the same time. My heart goes out to the families of the ones who lost their lives.

I like to drive fast as much as, probably more than, the next person. But I think twice now when there are other vehicles present, the weather is bad or I am somewhere I’m not familiar with. I plan on doing my best to guard against people who act as if they are the only one on the road.