Welcome back to the blog. I haven’t posted in a bit, but after the last twenty-four hours, I felt the need to share my experience.
Yesterday, I traveled to Cambridge, Ontario, for work. Anybody living in this region knows that winter driving here is always an adventure, but yesterday was something else entirely.
Normally, the drive to Cambridge takes me about two and a half hours. Yesterday, it took over five.
Why? Yet another accident on Highway 401. This time, a big rig decided to “kiss” the median. The impact destroyed the front of the truck, throwing debris—rocks and truck parts—right into our lane. As you can imagine, this caused a massive backup; it was almost a three-hour delay, to be exact. The 401 was slippery and it was snowing, which makes me think the driver perhaps should have slowed down or paid closer attention to the changing conditions.
Because of the weather and my extreme delay in arriving in Cambridge, everything I needed to get done was pushed back. By the time I finished, I didn’t have the energy to risk another 5+ hour white-knuckle drive home in the dark. I decided to stay the night. It was a quiet evening; I just grabbed some wings and a few beers at the restaurant attached to the hotel before calling it a night. I was completely drained from the morning commute and a long, boring afternoon.
I decided to head home today. After not a great night’s sleep—but some rest nonetheless—I hopped back onto the 401 at 7:00 AM. I optimistically expected to get to work by 9:30 AM, though I realistically texted a co-worker that I’d likely be back around 10:30 AM.
Lo and behold, my cynicism was correct.
There was another one-hour delay on the 401 Eastbound this morning. A commuter vehicle was involved in a crash. To top it off, I had already passed a separate fender bender shortly after starting my commute.
I do not know the status of any of the parties involved in any of these accidents over the last two days. I can only hope they are recovering well. I don’t believe there were any fatalities, at least I haven’t heard of any, which is a small blessing.
My point in writing this post today is this: We hear about accidents on the 401 every single day. It becomes background noise until you are sitting in the gridlock it causes.
I want to remind everyone to please be vigilant and alert when driving. Honestly, I don’t worry so much about myself getting into an accident; I worry about someone else forcing me into an accident because they aren’t paying attention.
There are so many things inside our cars waiting to distract us—don’t let them win. Know the road and driving conditions and adjust your speed accordingly.
Please be safe when traveling the highways this winter. Someone is waiting for you to arrive home.
If you agree with this message of safety, please like and share this post.
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