accidents happen, or do they? muah!

the other day i was walking down robie street, minding my own business, when i came to the crosswalk in front of the commons. i pushed the button to make the lights flash and noticed a girl on the other side of the road, also pushing the button. as the cars came to a stop, we both headed out into the road, and what happened next seemed to occur in slow motion.

a green car had stopped. the other pedestrian was crossing the street. a tanny-gold car came up behind the green car, slammed on the breaks, screeched on the road for about fifteen feet and smashed right into the rear bumper of the green car. both drivers calmly got out of their cars, inspected their vehicles and began to exchange information.

i stood there with the other pedestrian. we talked about what we had seen. the man in the green car asked if we were witnesses and requested that we hang around and give our information. i chatted more with the girl and we both agreed that the tanny-gold car was going too fast and couldn’t stop in time.

the other witness was very nice, a creative, artistic and free-spirited, fellow by-pedal foot-wanderer, and we quickly found common ground. being like-minded, we discussed other things, like where we were headed and what kind of work we do. we realised that we had just met by accident, or rather, by ‘an accident’, and laughed about how nothing happens by accident.

when i talked about nscad, she mentioned how she’d missed the wearable art show, a fundraiser for the aids coalition of nova scotia, organized by nscad students for the eighteenth year running. i hosted the show this year, with super cory bowles and nscad’s sweetheart, katie h, and told her there would be a screening of the show at nscad in the coming weeks, and there were pictures on facebook.

the wearable art show was a fantastic event that went off without a hitch, and i am continually impressed with the raw talent breaking out of the very skin of the students at nscad. every year, the bar is raised, and so is the money donated for aids research. kudos to everyone involved.

;)

so anyway, it seemed clear that the girl driver was trying to lessen the impact of an ‘accident’ that was clearly her fault. she said things like, ‘when i saw your break lights go on, i tapped on my breaks’, but she actually slammed them and crashed into a car that was stopped, and ‘oh there’s no damage’, as we watched other cars drive over the piece of her car that got creamed.

it was taking a long time for them to exchange info, and the guy obviously needed the co-witnesses to step up. we interrupted what may have become an argument by offering the truth, from two different perspectives with clear views.

the woman did not take too kindly to our descriptions, and kept saying she wasn’t going over the speed limit, but we felt speed was a factor. the car ahead of her had time to stop when the lights flashed, she was going too fast to stop in time. had the green car not been there, one or both of us would surely be booking passage to a greener pasture in the sky.

i have a lot to say about pedestrians in this fair town. for two weeks in september, one can tell who the students are from ontario. they make eye contact with the driver, use hand signals to make sure it’s okay to cross and then practically shine up bumpers, in gratitude for allowing them to cross the street. after this period of time, they walk out into the middle of the road like everybody else.

my ‘accidental’ encounter with escaping a catastrophe and meeting a cool chick, was like a nudge from the universe, a reminder that i am on the right path. today is not my day to die, but another day of meeting new people, promoting worthy causes and above all else, bearing witness to the truth.

and now, as i finish this post, a facebook friend request from my accidental pal has channelled its way to my inbox.