I got a call yesterday afternoon. A family member had car trouble and she was stranded on the freeway a mile away. I got in my car and drove to help. For the next hour or so I was on the side of Interstate 15.
Talk about scary.
I haven't spent a lot of time on the side of the road since I stopped driving Volkswagen bugs. Back in high school and college there was a better than 50% chance that I would not reach my destination. Oh, that little green bug. And that was long before we had cell phones.
So when I got out to help yesterday and it was evident we were going to be there for a while, I watched as car, buses, trucks and diesels came flying by. Man, they drove fast! It was very unsettling. I know we were about as safe as we could be, considering we were on the side of a busy interstate. Our lives were literally in the hands of hundreds of motorists we didn't know. The odds that one of those cars, trucks, buses and/or diesels would careen out of control were slim.
"So, you're telling me there's a chance?"
It was one of those situations where you can't think about it. You have to just have faith in your fellow driver. We safely towed the disabled car off I-15 and to our house. We had to drive on the shoulder for a few miles. And as we drove under the sign that notified us of how many people had died on Utah roads since the new year began, it reminded me of how dangerous these roads are. It also gave me a heightened appreciation for those who work on those roads, the repair crews, the highway petrol, even the cleaners. Those are jobs I would not like to do.
And as we passed under the death-tally sign, I was glad we hadn't become a statistic.
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