I just need to share this because I need to talk about it, I'm not sure if any of you have had similar situations (I'm sure someone has, this is BBI after all) but it was crazy.
We were coming home from a friend's house and travelling Eastbound through St. Louis when several cars in front of us suddenly braked and swerved. Suddenly, there was a man walking in the middle of our lane on I-64/US-40! I immediately swerved to the right but hit him with the very edge of the driver's side mirror! My wife immediately turned around and looked and I caught a glimpse in the rear view mirror and it appeared that he was still upright so we took a moment to safely get off the freeway at the very next exit, pulled over and called 911.
The St. Louis police officers who took our statement were professional and thorough in their questioning and kind when it was clear that we were honest and visibly shaken. The officer followed up with me this morning to let us know that there were no reports at any of the hospitals of serious injury and no fatalities or reports of other incidents on the highway last night. We don't know what brought this man into the middle of a busy freeway on a dark night but we are grateful for this news and hopeful that the extent of his injury was nothing more than a very nasty bruise.
As for us, we are still a bit spooked by the incident but were fortunate that, with the kids in the car, everything that could have gone right basically did and that the extent of our damage was a broken mirror. It happened in the blink of an eye and was extremely frightening and very close to a tragic fatal accident. It just proves that any distraction, from texting to eating in the car can create an unsafe situation while driving. Just pay attention folks, you never know what's around the corner.
Link - ( New Window )
I don't accept that suicide is an inherently selfish act, but I also don't accept that the people who do it are necessarily out of their minds. And while making someone else clean up after you slit your wrists or shoot yourself is bad, forcing someone else to deliver the death blow is probably worse.
We were all talking and etc etc when all the sudden my niece screamed. A guy was crossing right in front of us..my dad just missed him by swirving to his right. However, the car that was just passing us, hit the man dead on about 60 mph or so. All I saw was the guy hit his head into the car's windshield and flip over it like a rag doll. My dad immediately (as a few other cars as well) to side of the Parkway. My uncle and dad ran to his aide. Got traffic to slow and warned ahead. My uncle tore off his shirt to wrap the guy who was bleeding
The guy's wife was still in the parked car, from where he decided to cross the Parkway to go (which found out later) to take a piss. We went with the wife to the hospital after the ambulance and all came. However, the guy died on the arrival. It was one image I'll never rid of or shake..just a horrible memory on what was suppose to be another great trip to the shore.
The man who died was a locally known alcoholic who had been kicked out of a nearby bar earlier and had been found wandering the side of the road or passed out in the road before this accident.
Crazy situation all around. Obviously,there is a family who is missing someone and has to deal with that pain. My friend has had a very hard time with it, still is suffering legal consequences and still does not have a driver's license.
Definitely need to be careful out there!
Suicide by car was my first instinct as he was walking, NOT RUNNING, across the highway. For reference, it was right before an exit and right after a merge so at that spot there are FIVE active lanes on the Eastbound highway. Why someone would choose to cross there when there was a street overpass just a few feet away is insane.
If it was a suicide, or whatever, it pisses me off that I almost killed a man AND could have potentially lost control of my own car in an effort to avoid him.