Almost-collision could have ended very differently for youth
I almost killed someone’s child on Pine Avenue in Los Osos on a recent night. It would have been one of those split-second, life-altering moments for him and me. He would have been hit by a car and thrown from his skateboard onto the road (or into a fence or a tree), and I would have been someone who terribly hurt or killed a child.
It was very dark. I looked both ways, two times. But I was looking for headlights, not a young man flying down the road on a skateboard. I saw him in my headlights for a second, his arms in the air as if to say, “See me! Don’t hit me!” I did see him — thank God. I was able to react quickly — thank God. But, if I had been looking right instead of left when I pulled out …
He probably told his friends the next day, “Ha! I almost got nailed on Pine last night; you shoulda seen it!” While I was telling my friends, “I almost killed someone. I could have gone to prison.” If not a physical prison, an eternal prison of the heart. Youth does not equal infallibility. It just seems that way.
Christine Ahern, Los Osos
This story was originally published November 18, 2015 at 4:33 PM with the headline "Almost-collision could have ended very differently for youth."