Please read

[wingski]

I have to share this with you. Last night it was foggy, and I was driving accordingly. As I headed South, I saw the sky blinking a weird blue ahead of me. It looked like a beacon or a lighthouse, but a lot brighter. As I got closer, I realized that a cop had pulled someone over, and it was his flashing light bar that was reflecting off all the water particles in the fog. It was blinding, and the closer I got the more blinding it became. I had a car right behind me, so I couldn’t just stop. The road had deep drainage ditches on both sides and no shoulders so I couldn’t just pull over and cover my eyes. It wouldn’t have helped to close them because the light was even too bright for that and driving with your eyes closed isn’t real smart.

The cop had stopped the guy on the only pull-over on the road, and it was on the right side of a 90 degree left-hand bend. As I tried to slowly go around that corner with those two cars to my right, I completely lost all sense of direction and just flat out was blinded. First, I found out that my car was inches from the ditch and the bank on the left, and I cranked hard to the right. That was when I saw a pickup’s headlights right in front of me and realized I was totally in the on-coming lane. Then, I realized that my car was inches away from going into the drainage ditch on the right side of the road. I straightened out and passed the pickup on my left and drove to my home which was about two miles down the road.

You guys, I have rarely been frightened, but during all this I was horrified with no control at all. And, my wife was sitting right beside me through all of that. It’s my resposibility to get her and us home safely. Last night, I almost didn’t.

I kow that some of you are saying, “Hell, it just sounds like a white-out in a snow storm.” I’ve experienced white-outs and this was far worse, and I hope that none of you ever experience what I did. Now, to top all this off, I was wearing light amber driving glasses when this happened because of all these new cars with their hallogen headlights and because I’m so light sensitive.

I’m only sharing this because I don’t want it to ever happen to any of you. So, if you see flashing blue lights on a very foggy night, please be extra careful as you approach them or just pull over and wait until they’re turned off.

Mike