Car smashes

WE OFTEN ask, “how do car smashes happen? How close can one get and have a lucky escape?”

The other week I was driving along a backstreet in Toowoomba with no through traffic, travelling at about 50km, when out of the corner of my eye I spotted a small white car reversing, at speed down a seven-unit complex driveway.

She flew straight onto and across the street, to the kerb and instantly took off. Obviously she had slept in and was running late.

How close did we come to a smash? It had to be centimetres only.

I fully expected and for half a second waited for it.

It didn’t happen due to an instinctive split subconscious choice. I could have hit the brake but that would have been a certain disaster. Fortunately I slammed the accelerator, which enabled a miss by just centimetres.

And we wonder why accidents happen. I’m doubtful that she even saw me. Probably checking that her makeup was on okay.

After all she reverses out of there hundreds of times a year, and being a cul-de-sac in a backstreet there is I guess normally no traffic.

But we never know.

RAY HARCH, Toowoomba