Look Both Ways

Most kids you know, were probably brought up to "look both ways before crossing the street". I know I was. You first look left, then right, then left again in case a car pulled out of a driveway or was going really fast. Then you crossed the street. This was done so that you did not get hit by oncoming traffic.

It was brought to my attention a day ago, that one of our fellow engineers was involved in a car accident. He got hit by a car. No names will be given, as there is no particular functionality to know the name. But for the sake of the story we'll call him Zak. Zak was a friendly guy, amiable, and always glad to be chatting with his engineering buddies. Everyone knew him. One day Zak had to go meet his Little somewhere. He ran out of the house and as he was in a rush, Zak did not bother to go to a crosswalk on a four lane road (with enough room for parking on both sides). In fact, Zak b-lined across the road, and being in a rush, he forgot his childhood lessons of 'looking both ways before crossing the street'.

Now, normally, if you forget to look, it's not a big deal, either cars will break to a screeching halt and the driver will start making obscene gestures and say other things to imply his obvious displeasure for you being a wreckless pedestrian, or you would get lucky and you'd play a successful game of Frogger and avoid getting hit, while maintaining forward motion, maybe getting some honks from cars. In either case, there is no lasting (physical) damage on both sides. Emotional damage is another story or if you have a heart condition you might not fare so well either...

However, in Zak's story, he was not so lucky. Either he did not remember how to play Frogger or he just simply had a bad roll of dice, but in either case, a car and Zak tried to be at the same spot at the same time. Zak is no Superman, so the car did not bend and crumple around his body. The roles were reversed, his body bent and crumpled to the shape of the car, effectively shattering a leg and providing a head injury from the impact on the windshield.

Considering the circumstances, he could have fared much worse... both legs broken, broken ribs, internal bleeding, coma, even death.

Physical recovery will take a lengthy amount of time, however emotional recovery will take longer, it might even become an emotional scar. Why? Because after getting hit by a car, you don't expect to get a fine. But Zak did get a visit from the men in blue, who gave him a $104 ticket, for jay-walking.

Moral of the story? Even if you are in a hurry, cars don't care, especially if you run in front of one.