What's Your See Level?

Last Saturday afternoon I was involved in a project at home and needed a few things at Home Depot. We happen to have two Home Depots fairly close to us. In years past I would have jumped in the car or truck and driven to the closest one, get my items and shoot back home. These days any excuse to ride is standard operating procedure. And going to the furthest one with a loop through the country was almost mandatory.

I've passed by this barn many times but always going in a westerly direction. This time I was coming from the west and really saw it for the first time. Have you ever done that? You look at something many times but never really see it. As riders on two wheels we don't want this to happen to us. We want to see and be seen...always.

I witnessed a car accident late this afternoon. Someone in a long line of traffic waiting for a light allowed enough room for a Volvo driver to come out of a driveway to turn left onto the road. A guy in an Explorer was going fairly fast down the center emergency lane to make a left turn up ahead and they met pretty aggressively. It all happened very fast. No one was hurt but both were dazed. A lady and I stopped. She comforted them and made the phone calls while I directed traffic.

I remember last year when I did the same thing the driver of the Explorer did today only I was on the Vespa. Fortunately the other driver stopped just short of nailing me. I was only looking at and thinking about the turn I was about to make up ahead. I didn't see the opening or the car about to come through it. This could have been a deadly trap. When I think about the velocity with which the two cars hit today, had one of them been a bike I think the result would have been grim.

This has been a public service announcement to remind you to "see and be seen".