It was Sunday morning and I was planning on driving 1 ½ hrs north to meet up with my sister, go to an outdoor art show and have dinner with our 94 year old Mom. It was Canada Day weekend and also the 4th of July. I knew traffic would be heavy so I planned on leaving early and taking a route less traveled.
Traffic was heavier (in both directions) than I had anticipated so I decided to settle in for a long slow drive. No sense in trying to pass for there was nowhere to go and no time to be gained. The line of traffic ran for miles ahead and the oncoming traffic was continuous. I was stressed when I finally met up with my sister who had waited patiently for me for over an hour. The stress came not from the volume of traffic but from the idiots that tried to pull out and pass, jeopardizing the lives of those in vehicles all around them. And why? To get somewhere a few minutes early? Maybe.
Anyway, off we go to enjoy the art show in a park by the waterfalls. By the time the show was over the temperatures had soared into the high 90’s. My sister wanted to make a quick stop at a garden gallery but I decided to drive ahead to her house. When I pulled up to the traffic lights where I would turn back onto the highway, the traffic volume had not decreased. It would be a long 15-mile drive into town. Little did I know how long.
I found myself following directly behind an SUV. Ahead of the SUV were 8 touring motorcycles drifting along enjoying the weather and the holiday weekend. With traffic moving along about 60mph we rounded a bend in the road and drove along a long straight stretch of highway (2 lane). Everything was fine then within seconds there was nothing in front of me but pieces of motorcycles and bodies. I jammed on the brakes, jumped out of the car, grabbed my first aide kit, gloves, some sheets and ran down the road to lend assistance. Miraculously within minutes there were 3 doctors, 1 ER nurse and 4 paramedics on the scene. All were traveling with their families for the vacation weekend and just happened to be in the right place at the right time. I learned while waiting for help to arrive that the accident had been caused by a driver in the southbound lane trying to pull out to pass. How, I will never know, but he did not see eight motorcycles and plowed into them head on.
On Monday while driving to work I heard on the radio that one of the motorcyclists had died, two were still hospitalized and in serious condition and one had been treated and released (four took to the ditch and were uninjured). The death of the man I had spent almost 2 hours with on the hot pavement holding a tourniquet on his severed leg hit me so hard I was almost physically ill. The doctors had worked so hard to save him and his friends. I could not believe he was dead. The news reported that the cyclist were all middle-aged men that had gone for a ‘ride’ and were meeting up with their wives and families for a Canada Day Picnic. The driver of the car was a 22 year old university student driving back to Toronto from a weekend at the family cottage.
How many lives have been shattered by this one accident? A 22 year old boy will be going to jail instead of back to university this fall. The hopes and dreams of he and his family crushed. Three children are without a father. A mother is without the love and support of her husband. The families of all the cyclists and the driver are irrevocably changed. And for what?
We drive past accident scenes almost daily. Every day on the radio, TV or in the newspapers we hear about traffic accidents where people are injured or lose their lives. It is mostly a background noise unless it affects us personally. The point of this diary is that some accidents are avoidable. Slow down. Leave a little earlier. Like the sign on the ambulance said - Patience prevents Patients.