Near-miss

I was almost first one at the wreck the other day. We were in southeast Georgia, for a couple of events. The Little Princess had a wedding shower near Jesup last Saturday. The Wife went. I didn't. (That's another story all by itself.) And Saturday night, they had Grandma's 96th birthday party in Jesup. The Wife and I went. Some others didn't. (That's another story all by itself.) Between the two events, though, we nearly had another event. We had left Grandma's and were on the way back to the hotel. We got to a major intersection, and I decided to turn left, rather than go straight. Years ago, it wouldn't have mattered which way I went, since one city street was pretty much like another. But, over the years, they widened a couple of streets, re-routing some thru-traffic, and I decided to take that street. That meant turning left. So, I moved into the turn lane, and the truck behind me went straight through the intersection. Only, they didn't make it all the way through. Seems that an SUV ran a red light. The truck behind us (which had the green) hit it, causing both vehicles to flip around 180°. No one was hurt, it appears. Which was fortunate. The SUV driver had a small child (looked about four years old) in the front seat (and, yes, I think that's illegal in Georgia). Thankfully, though, the child seemed okay, just a little scared. Jesup Police got to the scene quickly. They actually beat the wrecker there -- which doesn't always happen. (That's another story all by itself.) Right after it happened, we realized that if we hadn't moved to the left-turn lane, we would have been in the intersection when the SUV ran the red light. And that would have made for a bad day for me. The Wife's day would have been worse, since the SUV would have hit on her side. But, it was in the cards for us to live long enough to celebrate Grandma's 96th birthday. But who knows what might happen tomorrow?