Close Call

This past Friday, before my trip to Austin, I witnessed a pretty scary car accident in Houston...

I was on the very inside, left lane at a red light waiting to turn left. On my right, there was a truck also waiting to turn left (both lanes could turn left).

So, I'm looking down at my radio when I notice the truck moving in the corner of my eye (he's beginning to turn left from the outer lane). This causes me to look up and realize the protected left green arrow has come on. So, I take my foot off the brake and begin turning as well (in the inner left lane).

Next thing I see, right in front of me, is a white sedan slamming into the truck. The truck flies into the air, crashes into the road, and then flips onto its driver side. So, the driver is pinned on the ground, with the driver-side door the only thing between him and the concrete. My brain is absolutely racing right now - what the fu*k just happened?!?

A few of us ran out of our cars, called 9-1-1, and did our best to get the situation under control (comfort the truck driver through his windshield, direct traffic, etc) as we waited for police and rescue crews to come. After arriving, firefighters cut through the truck's windshield to pull the driver out and luckily, other than being in shock and trying to make sense of what had just happened to him, the guy seemed to be okay for the most part. We then provided eyewitness testimonies to police that we definitely had a protected left, which meant the white sedan had probably driven through a red light...and then went on our way.

Anyways, just wanted to share this to remind people to be very careful driving. Even when a light turns green, please take a second to make sure no cars are racing through the intersection, and more importantly, please don't try to beat yellow lights - it's just not worth it.

So relieved that I was looking down at my radio for a split second when our light turned green and hope the truck driver is doing okay wherever he is.