A word to the wise... Never ride with or near a Smotherman!

Since mid-August, Richard and I have collectively witnessed 4 car accidents, 2 of them within 12 hours of each other. I don't know if we just drive too often or on too dangerous of roads, but I had never witnessed an accident since these began!

The first one was about 5 miles away from our house on a 6 lane road with a middle turn lane. It was raining and there was a lot of traffic. We were heading North-bound in the traffic. A little red Honda was sitting in the center turn lane facing South-bound. As we began moving, we watched a black Toyota sedan drift from the left South-bound lane into the center turn lane, without signaling. We then watched the Toyota continue moving, braking only when within a few feet of the North-facing Honda. It was too late... there was crunching metal and I was yelling, "WHAT WAS THAT PERSON THINKING?!" We turned around and went back with ponchos on to check on the drivers. The Honda was being driven by a slightly crazed woman who kept saying, "I should have stayed in the pet store a little bit longer! I can't believe this happened!" over and over. The Toyota was driven by a petite elderly woman who had be defrosting her windshield with her hand while changing lanes and claimed, "That woman just came into my lane." Hopefully she doesn't have her license anymore.

The second one was about 2 miles from our house near a 45 degree turn in the road. We were heading South-bound at about 10:00 on a Friday night 2 weeks ago. I heard a screeching sound and saw a pick up truck coming around the turn North-bound. The truck jumped over the curb and ran head-on into the corner of an office building. The impact flipped it sideways, with the driver's side laying on the ground. We pulled over and immediately called 911, watching the driver and passenger climb out of the passenger window, unharmed. While we waited to talk to the cops, we noticed they were both wearing wrist bands and acting like they were in a daze. The girl lit a cigarette off of one lying on the ground that was still burning. (I assume she dropped the other one during the accident.) Long story short, the guy ended up with a DUI... and I got a phone call from his insurance company the other day. We've been playing phone tag, but I can't WAIT to talk to them about what we saw!

The third accident happened the very next morning, at the entrance to our neighborhood. (Notice they keep getting closer and closer to home?) As we were waiting to pull out, we watched a driver pull out from a gas station at about 5 mph to cross 2 lanes of traffic going 45 mph. He's lucky all it ended up being was a fender bender. After we waited for 30 minutes for the cops to show up, we ended up giving the other driver our information and leaving.

The fourth accident was witness just this evening by Richard. He was driving home from work and was about 5-6 miles from home. Heading East-bound in the center of three lanes, he saw a car about 1/4 mile ahead driving in the right lane with its left turn signal on. As Richard approached, the turn signal was still on, but the car was not changing lanes. Then, just when Richard reached the car, he decided to TURN LEFT (not change lanes, but TURN PERPENDICULAR) to cross over 2 lanes! Richard slammed on his brakes to avoid an accident, but the car in the lane next to him T-boned the driver's side door.

I don't know why we keep ending up witnessing accidents, but if you decide to ride with or near us in traffic, please proceed with caution!