Eerie coincidence

As I was on my way to work this morning (technically, yesterday morning), driving down the 10 freeway in my rental car (my car's in the shop for a transmission overhaul, plus a few other part replacements, the sum of which will cost me 4G's), I switched to the "number one lane."

Numbering the lanes. This is what I learned from my accident on the freeway three years ago. If I still remember correctly, the innermost, high speed lane, is number one. As you extend out, you have number two, number three, etc. This particular stretch of the 10 that I was driving on had four lanes, plus an "utility lane" (carpool lane, officially known as "HOV"). So the slowest lane, the one you'd be at if you just merged onto the freeway, would be the number four lane.

Or was it the other way around? Maybe I had the numbers reversed...

I think I have it right. Anyway, as I was thinking about this after performing the lane change, I recalled the night of my accident--I was driving on the number two lane. Despite the time being around midnight, there was still quite a bit of traffic on the eastbound 10, but it wasn't bad. There were many cars, but it was still possible to drive at a brisk pace (average speed was around 70 mph). I noticed from my rear view mirror another car driving quite a bit faster than the flow of traffic, in the number three lane. As it passed me, I recognized it as a Mitsubishi 3000 GT. There was another car not too far ahead of him in the same lane (let's call this "Car C"), so he switched to the number four lane.

Watching him, you knew that he would have to switch back to the number three lane, since the number four lane was also occupied. He would either have to speed up to pass the car in the number three lane, or slow down to get back behind it. Obviously, at his speed, he would choose the former.

At the same time, another car ahead of me in the number two lane (let's call him "Car D") also decided to switch lanes, to lane three. Ahead of Car C. He completed his lane change just as the 3000 GT was beginning his back to lane three. As the 3000 GT enters the lane, its driver noticed that Car D had settled in, and if he moved his 3000 GT in, he would crash. He slammed on his brakes, and attempted to swerve back to lane four. Instead, he lost control of his car. It began to spin.

Hoping to bypass this out-of-control 3000 GT, I switched to the number one lane. But it was too late. It had made its way across the freeway, and hit me right on the front passenger side. My airbags deployed. The car spun counter-clockwise, the rear bumper taps the cement center guard of the freeway just beyond the utility lane, and stops facing west on the eastbound freeway, right between the utility lane and the number one lane. Just one unlucky sap who got sideswiped by an unsafe driver.

The incident is long to describe, but a few scant seconds to play out and recall.


Then, it happened. We come up to another congestion on the freeway right after we passed the 605. About five cars ahead of me, I see a black car desperately trying not to rear-end the car in front of him--he had swerved slightly to the right, smoke was coming out of his tires. I gently begin tapping on my brakes. He crosses over to the number two lane, the car now facing north on a westbound freeway. Then it looks as if it's stopped, facing north east, on the number three lane. Brake lights light up in front of me. One particular set of brake lights catches everyone's attention--the big-rig truck in the number three lane. My car has come to a complete stop. I only pray that the big-rig would be able to do the same.

No such luck. The extra weight pulls its momentum forward, and the big-rig crashes into the front of the black car. Pieces of broken metal fly up in the air, and the black car slides backwards across the freeway. Through lanes two and one, and into the utility lane. My eyes follow its movement, as if in a trance. It crashes into a minivan that was still moving forward. I'm not sure if it had crashed into other cars along the way, my view being obstructed by the cars ahead of me.

All the cars are stopped on the freeway. As a pathway clears, most drive on through to their destinations, thanking the stars that they were not the ones invovled in this accident.



What a way to start a birthday.