I got to say it was a good day

Actually, it was a strange day. On my way to work today, I was detained twice, by two different police departments. No, I didn't do anything wrong. I was sitting, minding my own business, heading southbound in the left of three lanes on highway 99. On my right was a strip mall, with a parking lot entrance about 15 feet in front of me. Traffic was packed, and we were all stopped for a red light up ahead. The car directly in front of me (and the one directly to its right) had stopped short of the cars in front of them to make a gap to let a car in the oncoming turn lane make their turn into the shopping center parking lot while we were all stopped.

This turned out to be the bad idea that it always is, because there is no way to tell the cars in the right turn only lane that there is a car about to cross their lane. I could see the red car approaching somewhere near the speed limit (45 mph) and I saw the green car disappear in front of the cars in front of me. The next time I saw the cars, they were both spinning. Now, the damage to the car that was turning was amazing. Both rear wheels folded under the car, much like the Delorean's wheels on Back to the Future when it starts flying.

Anyway, I pulled into the parking lot and went over to make sure everyone was ok. Two other witnesses were there, one of whom was on the phone, calling the police. After helping the driver of the green car out, the driver of the red car began ranting at the witness on the phone, saying he should just go, everyone was alright and they could handle it without him. At the time, we couldn't figure out why she didn't ask myself or the other witness to leave... but that became apparent later on.

The Edmonds police came, and while we were waiting to give statements, we overheard the first officer ask for registration/license/insurance. It was immediately apparent why the woman didn't want the witness there who called the police, as she apparently had no insurance.

What compels people to drive without insurance? Sorry, I just think that's dumb.

So, I gave my statement, and drove away. Continuing down highway 99, I again pulled into the left lane, and crossed out of Edmonds into Shoreline. 2.5 miles later, I was again stopped at a light next to a shopping center. Again, the car in front of me had left room for someone to turn while we were stopped. To my utter amazement, I again witnessed a car zooming down the right turn only lane, and again saw cars spinning after a collision. Again, I pulled over, and got there as another witness was calling police.

What are the odds? I read something years ago that claimed there was a 1 in 4 trillion chance of anything happening. By anything, it meant things like a cow randomly falling on your lilac bush every time you eat corn muffins. I suspect the chances of this are somewhat higher.

My statement given, I continued on to work. La-de-dah. Shoo-be-doop. The day was strange as well - La-de-dah = my co-worker got a call from his wife that she had passed out and needed him to come home. Shoo-be-doop = our admin assistant got a call from her father that he had fallen and couldn't get up, so she had to go. Weird. The day ended, and I began to head home.

So, I'm heading north on I-5, this time in the second lane from the right. I guess I figured that my being in the left lane was bad luck for the other drivers. Traffic was once again heavy, and I began to slow down. In the lane next to me, a large truck decided that it should test how quickly it could stop. Unfortunately, the cars behind him couldn't see through or around him, to know that the cars ahead of him were stopped and he was testing his brakes. Amazingly, the car directly behind him managed to stop about 6 inches short of his rear bumper. The car behind that was not so lucky. As traffic pulled away, all I could see what a red hood folded in half and steam rising.

I guess I'm just bad luck in general. I think I'll ride the bus tomorrow.

-The Krunchy Krab