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Life has its ups and downs, and right now I am going through a down. Initially I thought about passing up on this week’s BYB, but then I decided to do it.
This past week, I had to ride the motorcycle to work on a couple of occasions because the car was not available and taking the public transport wastes a lot of time. If I take my car or Motorcycle, it takes me 25-30 minutes to reach work but if I take the bus, I can count myself lucky if I make it in an hour.
Now, I have not used the bike in a while, so I was a bit tentative. But then taking the bus seemed like a big waste of time.
As I was riding through a particularly busy road, I saw an old lady and a young child trying to cross the road. There was a car ahead of me and we could not have been going at a speed of more than 25-30 Kms/Hour. The old lady-child duo seemed to be waiting patiently for the traffic to ease up before they crossed the road.
Either they did not see me behind the car or they thought that there was enough time for them to cross the road, they tried to make a dash to cross to the other side, right when I was going to pass them. I saw the movement and though I wasn’t going very fast, I realized I would hit them even if I applied the brakes.
Fortunately, they stopped in time and I swerved in the right direction and the bike passed barely inches away from them. My first reaction was almost to yell at them, but when I looked at them all my negative feelings vanished. They were smiling sheepishly and looked very innocent. It is really hard to describe the look in words, and I will not try to, because I know my words will not be sufficient.
But, I thought then, the incident could have had an unfortunate end but it could have been better too. Maybe seeing them, I should have stopped to let them cross the road. More so, because there was no vehicle behind it and me would not have cost me a few seconds to let them cross and move on.
I was thankful that no one got hurt and next time I will try to stop for someone trying to cross the road.
11 comments:
For some reason, people just do not see bikes. If they do, they think we can stop a lot faster than a car. Perhaps you need a big air horn like the truck drivers have? LOL
Happy Sunday, Neo. Have a great week.
Happy BYB Sunday
I've never nearly hit anyone on my bike which I'm thankful for, but having said that I don't ride it much anymore I just walk, living in a small village has it's good points as well as bad.
Cybercelt: That might actually be a good idea!
Happy BYB Sunday to you too!
Msdemmie: Happy BYB Sunday to you too!
Nancyrowina: Walking is beneficial for one's health too and yes living in small villages or towns has its pluses as well!
Whew! Close call, and surely something to count your blessings for! Happy BYB Sunday!
Events like that put my life into perspective: who really cares about being late, etc. when someone could have been killed or seriously hurt? Mind you, most people drive better than I do...
That's a good lesson learned, Neo. Life isn't so short that we can't be kind, just to be kind, to others.
some data... for a car and a bus in bangalore.... it is 8km/hour avg speed... for a bike, it is 22km/hour. so I prefer bike for travelling. And when it comes to yelling at people... I prefer some other approach, I generally stop then tell them "bhai sahab... jara aaram se" and then give them a simple lecture kind of a thing... which my friends hate so(nowadays they have started calling me aparichit:). I feel this spread awareness. when i cross a road i prefer a red light or a zebra.(for main roads)
now listen up kids... road safety is very important
;)
have a great week & may things look up as we head into the 5th week of the year
ps. i have quite a few harrowfying tales of the road as well narrated by me or others... but i'll leave that to another day
Wow..that was a close call. I'm glad no one got hurt.
Kuanyin: Thank You!
Have a great week ahaead.
Whatever: Most people drive better than me too. And yes it seems strange that we are worried about so many little things, which mostly are of no consequence or at best matter for 10-15 minutes
Jane: True!
The Chef: I didnt know you were from bangalore. Spreading awareness is very important and then we have to make sure that we practice what we preach.
Stev: Looking forward to hear your tales, if only to relate them later as a warning to people to drive safe.
Have a great week!
Andrea: Thank you! I was very glad too. For a moment I had a vision of me on the road with the lady and the child all covered in blood. Not a pretty sight at all!
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