Risks in the rain.

Yesterday, lunchtime, my husband and I set out from our home to head down to Redruth at the bottom end of Cornwall, where our son had spent the weekend with his Granny and his Aunt Lisa. The weather wasn't too bad when we first set off and we even stopped, not far from home, to grab some lunch from the local Subway. Mmmmm melts!

When we were  about half-way between Launston and Redruth the weather took a nasty turn. The rain was falling heavy and fast, visibility became very poor, and everyone slowed down in order to stay safe in the poor conditions; everyone bar one man in a black estate car. 

We'd hit a part of the A30 that goes into single lanes and had been plodding along slowly with the other traffic for sometime, when out of nowhere, this black estate car shoots in front of us, narrowly missing oncoming traffic and forcing Dan to break hard.

I don't know if the guy was insane or in a wild rage....

...but, nearly being hit once by oncoming traffic didn't seem to be enough for him, as he repeatedly attempted to pull out, over and over again, swirving back in every time and riding on the driver in front's tail all the way.

Dan and I were mortified. Not only was this guy putting himself at risk, but everyone else around him. With the heavy rain the roads were incredibly wet and it was hard to see more than a few cars ahead, yet this guy was driving like a mad man. 

"He's asking for trouble," Dan said, "He's a crash waiting to happen." He added and I agreed.

We watched him shoot from behind the car in front, narrowly miss some more oncoming traffic and then ride on the tail of the next poor car ahead. 

Shooting past them after a few minutes and narrowly avoiding another head on collision. From that point on he was just red lights in the distance, still clearly on another car's tail and it remained this way till we came to a roundabout and the road opened up into a dual carriageway again. 

At the roundabout we caught up to him. He wasn't intending to wait long. That was very clear and we watched with horror, as he shot out again, when traffic was coming. By some miracle, he avoided an accident and Dan and I just sat there in complete shock. We've seen plenty of silly drivers in the past, but nothing like this guy. He seemed to have a serious death wish and to be honest, I was pretty happy that he was now speeding away from us and no longer putting us at risk along with himself.

We pulled away from the roundabout once it was safe and carried on our way. The rain had eased a little and visibility, although still not great, was a lot better than it had been. Rounding a corner, not far from the roundabout, we noticed cars slowing ahead then mud and trees across the road. 

"What the Hell?" I said, gazing around with confusion.
 

"The tree's have all come down off the bank." Dan said, but it wasn't that simple.

There was something big, up ahead, and cars were moving around it cautiously. As we got closer and the car in front moved over to squeeze beside the car, the reality hit. The black estate sat in the middle of the road, over the top of the white lines, facing us. It was completely trashed and you couldn't see inside for the smoke that had filled the car.

He had lost control on the wet road, mounted the bank, which was steep, traveled all the way to the top, taking out trees as he went, and somehow come back down and landed, facing the oncoming traffic. The car was a write-off, the driver, already pulled free and safely in the back of someone else's car.

He was incredibly lucky to survive the accident and it is a miracle he didn't take out anyone else with him; but, as far as we could see, no other cars were damaged. 

What possesses someone to drive in such a manner is beyond me, but I hope the accident he had is enough to make him think twice about behaving in such a manner in the future. He is incredibly lucky that he faired better than his poor car.

I don't want to be judgemental and assume he was just an ignorant fool; impatient, and in a hurry. I haven't walked in his shoes and I do not know his story. Perhaps something terrible happened and he was in a rage. We've all done or said something stupid when angry, after all; if not quite that stupid.

Perhaps he was a first time father and his wife was in labour and he was desperate to get there and see his child born, or maybe he was just an idiot who knows.

Either way, driving like that, in such terrible conditions was stupid and deadly. Anything could have happened and he could have killed himself and others. There is never a good excuse for risking peoples lives. Never anything so pressing. I just hope this guy has learned his lesson and is a lot more carefull in future.

Although I suspect he'll be minus a licence for a while now and rightly so.

I am just glad no one was seriously hurt and that my husband and I were safely behind him when his accident happened.

So have you ever witnessed something like this or been in an accident because of someone else's dangerous driving? I'd love to hear your stories of risky drivers.

Love and hugs Joss xx