Until last month I prided myself on not getting into road accidents.
I've been a driver now for the better part of a decade and in that time I have driven across Alberta, British Columbia and down into America. While I won't pretend I've always followed every rule of the road to the letter, I had never really lost control of my vehicle or been in a situation I considered dangerous.
That changed last month on my way back from Edmonton after my vacation.
I had left a day early as snow started to fall and neither myself nor my parents wanted me to drive in poor conditions. Of course, as I set out thick wet snow began to fall making visibility poor. However, the further away from Edmonton the better the weather got and, I confess, I got complacent.
Eager to make good time I started passing on a divided highway. Everything seemed normal until, as I prepared to pass a bus, I hit a patch of wet snow and lost control.
First, my car began to skid and then as I tried to regain control and slow down I spun around entirely and slid right off the road and into the ditch. The whole incident took maybe 20 seconds at most as I went from going 110 kilometres an hour down the highway to being stuck in a ditch on the side of the road.
After the initial adrenaline wore off and I confirmed both myself and my vehicle were intact, I waited for about an hour until a Good Samaritan with a winch was able to tug me out of the ditch. Several people stopped to make sure I was ok which outside of a thoroughly bruised ego, I was. Suffice it to say, I took it easy for the rest of the drive and made it back to 100 Mile House with no further incident.
It's not lost on me how lucky I was in that situation. Had I been beside the vehicle while passing or on a non-divided highway the outcome could have been life-changing, if not deadly. Not to mention this all happened with barely a centimetre or two of wet snow on the road.
As winter settles in here in the Cariboo we've already seen several accidents on winter roads, some of which have resulted in injury and even death. Just last week the statistics for crashes in 100 Mile House during December last year were released. They stood at 27.
While the circumstances will differ from crash to crash, I can't help but think back to my own brush with disaster. It's an experience that has reinforced for me the importance of driving safely and cautiously during every season of the year, but especially in winter.
After all, while we grow comfortable driving our vehicles, that comfort should be paired with healthy caution and respect. Humans weren't meant to travel hundreds of kilometres an hour in metal boxes and when things go wrong it happens far too fast for us to do anything but be lucky.
So take it from one lucky idiot who got his hand slapped this winter, slow down and enjoy the ride.
