come alive on the driver's side

I had a scary experience Saturday night when I was driving back to Kent. I should preface this by saying that since I moved up here a couple of months ago, I've seen more drunk drivers on the road at night than I ever did in Columbus or Dayton. Just add that to list of reasons why I'm not a fan of northeast Ohio (along with the lack of Timmy Ho's!). Anyway, I was driving back on some two lane country road that I can never remember the numbers of, and as I was driving down a hill, a drunken idiot going the opposite direction veered into my lane. Have you ever gone head to head with another car? It's terrifying! I felt like I was moving in slow motion. I could see him coming at me, and all I could think of was, "Get out of his way!" So I did what any sane person would do: I got out of the way. I wound up driving on the opposite side of the road myself, and luckily the car that was behind Mr. (or Ms.) Drunk Driver saw what I was doing and slowed down so they wouldn't hit me. I thought about honking or flashing my brights, but considering how unpredictable this guy's behavior was already, I didn't want to take the chance that he'd jerk the wheel and wind up hitting me. I drew a picture in Paint to demonstrate what happened.

I have skills, I know.

I realize I got super lucky in this situation. If I hadn't reacted the way I had, who knows what could have happened. I might not even be writing this right now! I just don't want to take the chance of putting myself in that situation again, especially since this isn't the first time I've encountered a drunk driver on the roads up here. If I'm smart enough to know when I'm not sober and I can't drive home, I stay where I am. After Jackie's dad died, I take drunk driving VERY seriously. It's easy enough to die in a car accident when alcohol isn't involved; why risk it when things are even more dangerous when alcohol is involved? I don't know what it is about this area that causes so many people to drink and drive. Maybe the bartenders don't cut people off early enough. Maybe there aren't enough cab companies around to shuttle home the drunk people. Maybe people don't have the type of friends who won't let their friends drive home when they've been drinking. I don't really care what the reasons are. None of them are good enough, and after this heart-pounding experience, I'm probably going to end up spending the night at Hannah and Alex's (or wherever I am) more often, even if I'm sober. I value my own life too much to put it in the hands of some drunk idiot who can't tell what side of the road he should be driving on.

~ Christine