We’ve all been in a situation when our parents want us to do something immediately. Something you’ve been putting off for a while, and they were finally enforcing their decision to make you do it. Well when my cousin’s dad told him to go get a tail light from a junk yard for the last time, he meant it. We called the junk yard and asked them for the specific part we needed. After a short time on hold, he said they have it and we could pick it up tomorrow. That was certainly not good enough, we needed it now! After telling him our predicament he was kind enough to offer us 20 minutes to get there. Little did he know that 20 minutes would cause the ride of our lives.
We jumped in the truck prepared to fly there to pick up the part. As we hopped on the highway, my cousin’s truck roared as it accelerated. He didn’t stop accelerating until 95-100 MPH. That in itself isn’t that dangerous, but how you handle the speed is everything. We were moving along quite fast, and it was looking like we’d be on time. There was no traffic, and it was a clear day with no impending reasons for us to slow down. A few miles after getting on, there was a car passing a semi. He was doing it so slow, and it seemed to be a little pointless. Meaning he was hardly going faster than the truck was. So we had one of two options; go around them or slow down. My cousin chose to drive on the shoulder, to pass them. That wasn’t all too dangerous. Was it rude, illegal, and inconsiderate? Yes. Was it terribly unsafe and a life threatening situation? No. We had our music blasting, and we’re just kids. We thought we were immortal. When it was our turn to get off the highway, we were all the way in the left lane. There was one person in the middle lane, which we needed to either pass or get behind to get off. Well from the other things we’ve done so far, it’s easy to assume which one of those options we chose. That was really pointless though because we had to slow down for the impending red light anyways. After the light we turned on to a curvy double yellow road. There was a red station wagon in front of us, doing the speed limit. That of course was too slow for my cousin. He jerked the wheel in to the opposite lane of traffic to pass the station wagon. Once we were next to him, and the engine was again screaming, we noticed a car not far from us in the same lane coming directly at us. My cousin just said one word and floored it. The station wagon (I assume) hit his breaks to let us proceed to pass him. We barley squeezed in to the lane we should have been in with inches to spare on each side of the vehicle. I honestly think if the station wagon didn’t slow down we could have been involved in a head on collision. Afterwards my cousin jokingly said he was in control the whole time, but didn’t want to brake because he had already accelerated to pass, and didn’t want to waste the gas. Pretty scary close encounter and a ride to the store I’ll never forget.
Looking back I’ve learned a few things. The first being always put on a seat belt when driving with other people. If you’re not in control, then it’s just not worth the risk. Secondly, getting yelled at is better than being in a head on collision. I won’t drive like a 90 year old grandma, but risks like those are completely unnecessary. Even a minor accident caused by stupidity results in a lot of hassles. Insurance goes up, you get tickets, and have to deal with the police. I’ll always think twice before driving like a NASCAR driver.
