I constantly tell my wife Debbi to be careful on the road. As a Dedham, Massachusetts car accident lawyer, I know all too well the danger that lurks on the road – everywhere. And when you least expect it.
Recently, we were traveling from Connecticut back to Massachusetts, after a wonderful family gathering. Debbi was driving, and I laid down in the front passenger seat, trying to get a catnap.
Then the most scary and incredible thing happened. We were somewhere on the Massachusetts Turnpike, and I suddenly was startled – I unexpectedly heard a car fly by us in the left lane, going at least 100 miles an hour. It jolted me awake. I heard Debbi gasp and I sat up and saw the car whizzing by. We were both alarmed by the unexpected appearance of that car speeding in the left hand lane – it came out of nowhere – and the driver was clearly going way too fast. My wife said, “Thank Goodness I was in the middle lane – if I had been in the extreme left lane, we wouldn’t have had time to switch lanes and move over. We undoubtedly would have been one more Massachusetts Turnpike car accident.”
We were visibly shaken by this incident, but the dangers didn’t end there. As we later drove on Route 128, Debbi was going about 55 miles an hour in the middle lane – and suddenly there appeared a broken orange cone, smack in the middle of the lane. She was going slow enough that she had time to slightly swerve left and avoid it – but what would have happened if there had been another car directly to the left of our car? We most definitely would have been injured — or killed.
Route 128 Massachusetts car accidents happen all the time. Many of them produce lifelong injuries, and even death; these tragic stories appear in the news every day. Drivers need to pay attention at every moment and never take their eyes off the road. Of course, I’ve said and written this many times, but I’ll say it again anyway – NEVER text and drive, which is illegal in Massachusetts. The best rule of thumb? It comes from an old advertising campaign for safe driving from the 1960s: Watch out for the other guy. And drive defensively.