Sudden Death

Sunday night on the way home from church I came upon a fatal accident that had happened 10 minutes earlier on a state highway.

A fire truck with lights flashing stopped traffic at the scene and firefighters milled about the blacktop, but no medical personnel or law enforcement officers had arrived yet. As I slowed my car, I saw another auto parked on the shoulder. The right side of the windshield had cracked into hundreds of pieces, but hadn’t shattered. Blood stains splattered the glass where the windshield and metal frame met.

As I drove on a few yards more I saw the surreal scene of a man laying facedown in the ditch. Just then a firefighter removed a tarp from the truck and covered him up. By now I saw an ambulance in my rear-view mirror with lights flashing. A siren wailed and I wondered why. The man obviously had died instantly.

A few yards further I looked out the window of my creeping vehicle and saw a bare leg, severed below the knee, lying on the gravel shoulder of the highway. It’s a graphic image that sticks in my brain.

Shaken, I immediately called my wife who was still with church friends, and told her to take another route home.

The next day I read in the local paper that a car driven by a 54-year-old woman had struck the 79-year-old pedestrian. The collision occurred on a slight ridge shortly before twilight. The walker and driver probably never saw each other before impact.

Rarely do we get into a car and consider the gravity of the undertaking. As we chug down the road at 60 miles per hour, a sudden movement by us or another driver can mean immediate death.

Sunday night on the phone I told my wife to be careful coming home. Life is precious. And it can end quickly.