Late last night, I was going to pick up my sister from the airport. She was on one of those “redeye” flights from France. The flight was schedule to land at 12 midnight. But I knew better. I called ahead and got the flight info so I could hang around my house until about 1:30 a.m. I was a bit groggy since I had dozed for 45 minutes or so before I left, but I was alert and driving carefully.
As I was making the 20-minute drive down the highway it suddenly occurres to me that I am in the far left lane. “Brad, you know better…”, I thought.
You see, what cops know is driving down a long stretch of lonely highway in the middle of the night you need to be in the right lane if you want to live. Cops know that in the middle of the night, drunks leave the bars. If the drunks get on the highway, there are two deadly wreck scenarios you have to look out for. And I was about to see one of them…
The first nightmare outcome happens when one of these party animals enters the highway by driving in from the exit ramp. Once on the highway, the drunk thinks they’ll pull into their right lane so they can avoid attracting attention. Since they are drunk, they may not notice their headlights are off. What this means is they drive into oncoming traffic in the left (fast passing lane) with lights off. As you might imagine, this causes deadly head-on collisions.
Another bad outcome happens when the drunk enters the highway from the correct entrance but mistakes a 4 lane road for a 6 lane road. So, he or she will be in the passing lane, but think they are in the middle lane. As they approach another car from behind and go to pass it on the left, they cross the double yellow line into oncoming traffic – oblivious to the fact they were already in the passing lane.
After those two thoughts shot through my mind, I quickly
checked my mirrors and pulled into the right lane and continued on my way to
the airport.
I picked up my sister and our friend and we headed back to town. I of course, stayed in the right lane the whole time and kept the speed down. They asked me what I was doing going so slow and so determined to get into the right lane ASAP. I responded that “there is a head on collision party and we’re all invited.” They both laughed off my comment and probably thought I was a bit weird. But then Keane came on the radio and the conversation quickly turned to how much we all liked that band.
We had just crested a hill when I started to notice the flashing blue and red lights. From what I could see, there were two officers already on the scene, but as we approached, I saw another one in the distance. “Oh my God!” I heard from the passenger seat. “What is that? What happened?”
Sure enough, there was a car with its lights off in the left hand lane facing oncoming traffic. It looked as though the front axle was broken because the front wheels angled toward each other. As we continued to pass we saw the other patrol car about 200 yards up the road. He was blocking both lanes of traffic. There was a small tree and plenty of shrub debris in the road. And then I saw it…
The driver of the white car was heading the right way down the highway in the left lane. He or she must have gone left to pass someone or to take an imaginary exit. As the car hit the median, took some shrubs and a small tree or two with it and barreled straight into the left lane of oncoming traffic. I would assume it either flipped or caught some air because of the broken axle.
Thankfully, we were never in danger, but the scene was graphic enough to reinforce to me what a cop once told me. “In the middle of the night, keep right.”
Technorati Tags: drunk driving, cops, police, survive
{ 6 comments }
Being on call 24/7, I am often forced to drive late at night. I have often thought more about the drunks out driving, than I have the people who get shot in the neighborhood where I work every week.
I really appreciate the tip. I have NEVER heard that, but will be sure to heed that advice. I’m going to the office tonight at 10PM b/c we did an architecture upgrade this weekend. Who knows when I’ll be out of there, but I will be in the right lane for sure.
Thanks man!
Not just at night – you should always keep right unless you need to be passing someone and there is nobody who is going faster than you.
I’ve spent a fair amount of time driving late at night and never considered the probabilities behind where a drunk driver accident is most likely to happen. Thanks for the tip!
Are you sure it was caused by a drunk driver or did you assume? Good point to keep to the far right.
B. and Andrew, I’ve done my share of night driving. I normally am a speed limit driver anyway so usually there is pressure to stay in the right lane anyway :p
seda, I don’t know for a fact if the driver was drunk or even lived. We didn’t hang around. But whether or not they were, odds where much in favor of it. It also illustrates one of the worst case scenarios of driving at that hour.
Thanks Isaac. Love the site!