Two days ago a person almost killed me and my friend Rachelle. This was a person that I trusted to do what was right. I learned a valuable lesson. Never trust people.
Let me start from the beginning. It all started around 6am. My friend and I were a couple of miles into our four-mile run when we approached a four-way stop. As always, we slowed down to see if there were any cars approaching.
We saw the car coming, but it was still slowing down for the full stop. Since the car wasn’t full braked yet and would still have to stop at the stop sign, as you should always do at a stop sign, we thought we had time to cross. Also, by this time we were in the driver’s headlights so surely they could see us, right?
Wrong. Don’t trust people. The driver totally pulled one of these:
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As we were running right in front of her car, the driver shifted from slowing down to pausing to then accelerating. And we did this:
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And just as she was about to hit us both, she slammed her brakes. I had jumped back and my friend had jumped forward to finish crossing the street. The driver tried to signal me to go ahead and cross in front of her. To which I gave her a look similar to this:
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There was no way I was going to cross in front of her car. I didn’t trust her. So we went into a stand-off until she finally drove away and I crossed the street.
My friend and I couldn’t believe what had just transpired. How did she not see us? Why didn’t she stop at the stop sign? Why couldn’t we run a 9-minute mile? (Okay, maybe that last question is off topic, but when your life flashes before your eyes you can’t help where your mind goes.)
Tuesday morning I learned my lesson as a runner: Never trust people. Unless they are handing out free pretzels during a marathon. Then, by golly, take all the free pretzels you can get your hands on.
Have you ever been almost hit by a car while running?
I Sweat Pretty 
I’ve had a woman roll through a stop sign and turn into me. All while in her cell phone. When she finally saw me and slammed on the brakes, she glared at me. I was walking at the time so it’s not like I snuck up on her. Why don’t people pay attention?! Glad you and your friend are ok.
Thanks! Maybe we should run in glow-in-the-dark clothes? 🙂
Yes. I’ve actually been hit by a car … not hard, but enough to scare the livin’ bejeezus out of me. Years ago, I was running on a street (no sidewalk), left side (opposing traffic). Car pulls up from cross street on the right. She’s making a right turn. I thought we made eye contact. Apparently we didn’t. As I stepped in front of her bumper, she pulled into the intersection. I jumped at the last second and rolled over the hood like some cop in a bad movie, landed on all fours on the ground next to the driver’s side door. She was quite shaken and got out to make sure I was OK. I brushed the gravel from my scraped hands and knees, urged her to PLEASE look both ways every. damn. time. And then I kept running.
Be safe out there.
I almost wish we had a slow (but painless) roll over the hood. I think it would’ve helped drive the point in.
Glad to hear you lived to tell the story. 🙂