I like to help people, but…….
Yesterday, as I was heading home on I-40 (in rush-hour traffic), I noticed a motorist in the left-hand lane shoulder with a flat tire. He was barely off the road and was standing dangerously close to the interstate. Yes, for a moment I thought about stopping and assisting, but it was way too dangerous for even me. I have a light bar on my roof and I have emergency strobe lights on my cab and in my tail lights, but the situation was still not safe. The same thing happened to me on my way to work yesterday morning. I was north bound on I-44, approaching the I-40 junction and saw a motorist on the right-hand shoulder…again, just barely off the road. If he had opened his door, a car would have easily hit it…that’s how close he was to the interstate. Once again, it was way too dangerous for me to stop, so I didn’t.
Motorists need to know if they have car trouble, or if they get a flat tire, to find a safe place, way off the road, to park. If they have to drive a little ways on a flat tire, it’s better than stopping on the shoulder where there is very little room. If their car stalls on the interstate, they need to try to pull over to the far right-hand lane and, if possible, take the next exit off the interstate. The interstate is not the place you want to be with a flat tire or a stalled car. Even if you are pulled onto the shoulder, many drivers are driving so fast, they don’t have the reaction time they need to slow down quickly. Then, they wind up swerving to avoid hitting another car and next thing you know, they are aimed right at you. All you have to do is watch a video and see how traffic reacts to a stalled vehicle….it ain’t pretty.
One thing I have learned since I have been driving the interstate so much now, is no matter how fast you are driving, some idiot thinks he/she has to drive faster. I normally stay in the far right-hand lane on the interstate and normally cruise at around 65 mph. When traffic is heavy, I stay at least 3-4 car lengths behind the car in front of me in case they decided to stop quickly. I never, ever, weave in and out of traffic and I always use my signal light. Why? Because it is the law and I have REACT signs on the side of my truck, so I have to be the one setting the example for the other drivers. Even though our law enforcement should be setting the examples on the interstates, they aren’t. Many police officers and OHP speed on the interstate because they can get away with it, which is totally wrong. They should be setting the examples for all the drivers.
In other news….
This is Stephen’s last week in his apartment….wait…let me rephrase that……he has to have all his stuff out of his apartment by this coming weekend. After 6 months of paying a ridiculously high price for a one-bedroom apartment in NW OKC, his lease is up and he is moving out. The apartments he wants to move in will not be available until March, so he is staying with us and sleeping on the couch until March. He actually “moved” in with us around the first of January because they cut off his electricity. He is giving our new couch a good workout. We really don’t see him that much, except for some evenings. I am normally in bed by 10-10:30 and he is usually not home until after that. Since he had no place to put his excess furniture (which is not much), he is suing our new storage building in the back yard.
http://www.okcentralreact.org/
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