Driving In A Fog

I didn't pick up the cell phone when it rang the first time, I was busy.

On the second ring, I answered.

It was my wife Lori, who told me she had just been hit by an SUV that ran a red light at an intersection near our house.

My heart skipped a beat.

Our son Michael was with her.

They were meeting some people from her restaurant to do some Christmas shopping for a needy family that they had adopted for the holiday.

She told me everyone was OK, but Michael was shaken up a bit.

I jumped in the car and began driving through the fog to reach the intersection.

Despite the increased heart rate, I drove as safely as possible through the thick fog.

The stop lights were hard to see until you were about 50 yards from the intersection, but I had driven this road a million times. I knew where the lights were and the four-way stops.

The driver of the SUV that caused the accident had driven through the red light, smashing into a car next to Lori's, before careening into my wife's front passenger door.

Michael was sitting on the driver's side behind her.

It was his first accident.

I gave everyone a quick hug, checked on the other drivers. Everyone was fine.

Then, I turned my attention to what happened.

I've covered so many crashes, minor and deadly, as a reporter over the years the questions started pouring out of me.

What happened? Where was the other driver? Did you see the SUV coming before it hit you, and so on.

I began to get angry.

How many times have I seen people driving like idiots, watched close calls and dialed 911 to report someone weaving all over the road.

The anger gave way to relief that no one was hurt.

The only serious accident I was ever involved in happened on Christmas Eve in Arizona when I was 18.

The other driver was turning left and smashed into my driver's door as I was coming through the intersection.

I woke up on the sidewalk with my sister and an off-duty nurse looking down at me.

I had a concussion. Some bruises to my left side.

The driver crushed the outer door up to the frame, which was buckled up under the driver's seat.

My head hit the top of the door. The window was down or I probably would have hit that instead.

It was a clear, beautiful Arizona winter day, but today, it was the first real day of morning fog in west Bakersfield near our house.

I wanted to know what the other driver was doing. Why didn't she see the red light? Was she driving to fast for the conditions?

The police believe some kind of distraction was involved.

Talking on the cell phone, changing the music, who knows.

I've been driving in Bakersfield fog for about 16 years now, and I've come out unscathed. (knock on wood)

Something happens to me, and I'm sure to other people as well, when the fog rolls in.

I turn off, or down, the music. Leave the cell phone in the glove box. Slow down to about a 1/3rd of my normal speed.

I even flick my brights on and off briefly when I come up on intersections, so someone trying to pull out might see me a little better.

There's no scientific proof that it works, but it makes me more attentive.

I'm grateful that no one was hurt. I'm adding it to my list of things to be thankful for this year.

I wonder if it's too late to ask Santa for a new passenger side door and mirror for my wife's Toyota Avalon?

**A quick reminder to give all your attention to the road in front of you, now that the Tule Fog has officially arrived for 2007-2008.**