Certain experiences become scarier the more I think about them. It would behoove me not to do that, not to dwell on the possibilities that certain perilous situations which turned out copacetic could have gone entirely bad.
Last year I was crossing a street at an intersection. I had the WALK signal. I walked. A driver in an SUV slowly approached, intending to make a left turn onto the street I was crossing. The SUV was moving slowly, I noticed, but not that slowly. A split second’s alertness prompted me to leap out of the way as the vehicle calmly moved right onto the spot on which I had been walking. The front fender of the vehicle came within an inch of impacting my leg. I could see my reflection in the shiny metal of the fender. Had contact been made my leg would almost certainly have been thrown under the front tire and probably broken as the driver continued to move the vehicle forward and even accelerate while rounding the turn.
The driver’s face, I noticed, was looking completely the other way.
I leaped to the sidewalk, nearly falling on my face but maintaining balance like a clumsy gymnast. At that point the SUV stopped. No words were spoken. The driver’s window was never rolled down. I never got a good look at the driver and in the moments of anxiety that followed I was skeptical of why they had stopped their vehicle after nearly running me over. If an encounter were to ensue I expected to be blamed for endangering myself, even though I was as where I was supposed to be as I was supposed to be.
In retrospect I have reconsidered the driver’s decision to stop the vehicle, thinking it possibly reflected their moment of shock at having nearly run down someone who they simply did not see because they were looking the other way.
Whatever their thinking I chose to just keep walking. At best there would be an apology (which would accomplish nothing), at worst there would be scripted attitude and lawyered up finger pointing.
Thinking of that incident now I don’t worry so much about what would happen had I been hit. I think more about the dangers of growing old in this town while possibly maintaining a level of outdoor activity comparable to today’s. Had I been elderly, infirm, or otherwise unable to sprint into motion that day I would certainly have been crushed.
