Earlier this month, at high noon during a run, we had a very close call with a car. Misty and I were running our usual 5k “train” course loop that intersects with the Southpointe Trail/Pine Lake Road. We were stopped at 14th and Pine Lake, a very busy intersection, especially when school is in session at Southwest High nearby. We were waiting for a green light and the walk sign to tell us it was safe to cross 14th Street. Turning traffic has a green arrow to turn north (left) so it’s important to check to make sure latecoming cars aren’t trying to fly through the intersection at the last second. Seeing the walk sign light up, it appeared to be safe to cross. Or so we thought. We usually cross intersections like this pretty fast for safety reasons. Lots of cars coming from all directions.
When we were nearly halfway across the street, near the island separating the two sides of 14th Street, suddenly I saw an undetected car turning in front of us, cutting us off. Just two feet or so from Misty’s right side. We stopped as suddenly as we could as the driver did cut us off, disobeying the red arrow and not yielding to us, the pedestrians. Although we have the right of way, it’s best not to test this with cars. We were angry and frightened by this incident. I don’t know where this car was coming from. Could have been Southwest High School, could have been from access roads adjacent to the intersection.
As we crossed the street finally safely, we realized there were witnesses. Drivers/cars and a pedestrian walked by saying that car was WAY too close to hitting both of you. Yes, I agreed. And I realized if the car had hit Misty, it would have hit me too as we were only about 1 foot apart when the car cut us off.
How did we miss this crazy car? I don’t know. I try to swivel my head as far to the right as I can while holding the dog to make sure I don’t miss anything. Why did this reckless driver do this? Why was she flying through the intersection as if racing us and disobeying the traffic signals? Cars are inherently dangerous, especially if not utilized as they are intended, which is to say, safely.
This incident caused me to second-guess many of my safety strategies and beef up our visibility. I added more Brilliant Reflective safety strips to Misty’s leash so there is good reflectivity up about 2/3 of the length of the leash now. It was about 1/2 covered at the bottom before (maybe not enough for the driver to see well). It was a sunny day so maybe the sun affected the driver’s vision, I don’t know.
I added more Brilliant Reflective safety strips to my running clothes. And now I try to make sure that I am wearing not only the Road ID with Brilliant Reflective on one wrist but also my Nathan reflective wristband on the other. Sometimes I wear them on the both side, it kind of depends on the route.
And I realized: we have to act like traffic police sometimes when we are crossing to stay safe. I started holding up my hand/wrist with more definite stop motions to get drivers’ attention when we are crossing (then thanking them with a wave if they respect it). Hold up your hands/arms and say STOP! It works surprisingly well. Be seen. I couldn’t believe how well it worked the first time I tried this after our close call.
For a while I was reluctant to even return to cross this intersection with the dog, wondering if it could be done safely consistently. But I realized I can’t let this keep us from running as long as we are being safe. So we finally returned to the corner and haven’t had any problems there since.
We cannot run with fear. I realized what happened wasn’t my fault even though I blamed myself for a while, saying it shouldn’t have been that close, We should have waited to cross…But I was wearing bright safety yellow jacket, lots of Brilliant Reflective on my clothes and gear. I checked the traffic lights. There were no known hazards until the very last second when we were almost hit. I took all the precautions I knew at the time. When it’s cold and we’re rushing to get home, we sometimes forget about those pesky blind spots.
On the other hand, we must be VERY careful especially when drivers aren’t paying attention. So there is an important balance to strike between fearlessness and caution/safety.
Close calls in safety may happen to almost all of us, especially with cars/drivers unfortunately. Be aware of what we can do to stay safe. Wear bright reflective clothing. Carry your charged phone at all times. If someone witnesses something that happened to you like this, make sure you talk with them to find out what they saw from their angle. Replay the events in your mind and try to advance your safety strategies to a higher level.
Now we just assume drivers aren’t going to pay attention. And if it’s a close call, we are waiting to let the errant/negligent/reckless drivers pass. It’s not worth the risk of a collision. And if my dog is with me, there are two of us involved.
Want to know how you can obtain some Brilliant Reflective safety strips? Check out their website: BrilliantReflective.com. They have new family packs too that have BR safety strips in different shapes for kids.
Another change I have made is to simply wear my headlamp more often. For lunchtime runs, we now consider some other routes so we aren’t faced with this close call in the future.
Remember we all have blind spots and the cars that approach us (especially from behind/the side) are particularly dangerous if they fall within the blind spot zone or outside our peripheral vision. This is why Brilliant Reflective applied to the back and sides of us is so important. And if safety strips wear out, I need to replace them. I think I changed all the safety strips on the dog leash right after this with brand new ones just to be safe.
Be careful out there, especially in winter. It’s tougher to see in the darker days of late fall and winter. And don’t worry about us, we’re fine. We’re treating this as a valuable learning experience. Be aware, be seen, and be safe. Thanks for listening.
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