I was in Annapolis to have lunch with my mom today and made a quick stop at the complex with the Best Buy on Generals Highway. As I was leaving, at the light to turn out, I noticed a car to my right waiting to turn left into the complex. I noticed the car was pretty far back – it’s a HUGE intersection, and I would have come towards the middle to make the left shorter.
As I sat there, she began to turn. Oncoming traffic still had a green, and an SUV with the right of way smashed into the turning car.
Everyone seemed to be ok – I called 911 and I commend Anne Arundel county for their responsiveness. I think a police officer was on site in 3 minutes and the ambulance in maybe 5. The SUV driver was pretty freaked out – I think she was driving with her mom and son, 3-ish years old. I don’t blame her for being freaked out. The other driver hadn’t gotten out of the car when I left but I overheard a woman who had spoken to her tell another witness that the woman was upset she’d have to tell her daughter she’d “gotten into another accident”.
It got me thinking a lot about how our car-dependent areas really hurt us as we age. This woman was coming from somewhere west of Annapolis, so no chance she could get anywhere without a car. My grandmother was like this – she never learned to drive, and it never mattered until they moved to the suburbs and then my grandfather passed away at 61 and she was stuck in that house until someone came and picked her up.
The woman in this crash today probably shouldn’t be driving anymore, but how are you going to tell her that when that’s her only way out of the house?