Two Seconds

I live off of a very busy highway that once was very rural, but in the last few years has transformed into a community complete with subdivisions, grocery stores, gas stations, and even a high school.  As the community continues to grow, so does the traffic.  It is now a major corridor connecting several suburbs.  This highway now has the most fatalities in the state.  The high speed, congestion, young drivers, distracted drivers, turning drivers, hills, and blind frontage roads, all contribute to this hot mess. 


I was on my way to the high school football game with my son last week.  We were stopped at the lights.  The lights turned green and my white van stayed put.

“Go, Mom,” he said.

 I didn’t answer, I was counting to two.  Sure enough, a car zipped through the intersection racing along even though the light was dark red.   Had I turned when he said go, this speeding car would have hit the passenger side of my car where the most precious cargo, my son, was sitting.

Two seconds. 

I then told my son the following:  A wise patient man, your grandpa, taught me this rule many years ago as I was learning to drive.  “Give yourself two seconds before entering the intersection, my Annie,” he would say.  My dad would gently remind me this every time I was driving the car as well as every time he was driving the car.  I heard it over and over again.  Before long, counting to two became a habit.   Now I see it as a live saving piece of advice.

Two seconds. 

Yesterday, it happened again, another bad accident at the lights at the entrance to my subdivision.  Emergency vehicles were everywhere. As traffic crept by there was a woman on a stretcher, a bumper on the ground, glass everywhere.  Two SUV’s had collided. It appeared one was turning, one was going straight. 

Two seconds .