Lessons from Jon

 I am writing this article on the day my friend Jon moves from Arizona, back to his adopted home state of Montana. The fact that he is moving is not the reason for the article, rather the events that transpired right before his move, are.  Jon was supposed to move in mid-December. He had his apartment situation all sorted out: had the place checked, had all utilities cancelled, and a moving van and movers ready to go. That was supposed to happen around December 18^th of 2016. Unfortunately for Jon, that move never took place on that day, for a week before that day, he was involved in an accident that still shakes him to this day, and this accident that my friend went through has good lessons for us all to learn and remember.

Jon was driving back from a mini vacation in the Prescott, Arizona, area. In the car with him that night was his sister, and his sister’s daughter. Jon had been driving on dark state routes that were for the most part deserted. It was the perfect time of year for a drive like this from a safety angle: the migrating elk had already reached where they would winter for the year, it was a typical cold-weather December two weeks before Christmas, so the roads weren’t crowded. And it hadn’t snowed yet, so none of the Flatlanders from the Phoenix, Arizona area were on the road hunting for snow, something that tends to happen a lot in northern Arizona during the winter.  Apart from the fact that it was dark, it was a pretty safe time and place to be driving.

This safety continued for Jon for many miles: first, up the 260 from Interstate 17, then on to Arizona State Route 87, towards his home in Payson, Arizona. During this time, Jon had lowered his speed as anyone should on dark roads, and he was doing a great job focusing on the road and looking out for hazards. Jon is an expert driver, and his skills showed on that night.

------Imagine this, blocking the entire road, unlit, unwarned of, and very dangerous--------

This safety continued until Jon was about a mile north of the Tonto Natural Bridge, the largest natural tavertine bridge in the world (if you haven’t been there, you should go, it is amazing). Here, coming out of a dip in the road, Jon saw what he never expected to see blocking the road in front of him: the bulk of an old UHaul truck, those large rental ones with the special, “Mom’s Attic” over the cab. Jon is still not sure what the person was doing, but he was almost fully blocking both lanes of traffic, and doing it in a spot that was hard to see from the road either ahead or behind him. To make matters worse, there were no taillights or marker lights, or reflectors on the truck at all. Jon had a split second to react, and as luck would have it, there wa just enough room on Jon’s left to squeeze between the solid mountainside, and the front of the truck. Of course, there was no way he could come through that unscathed: his Subaru was heavily damaged by smashing up against the mountain, and he himself was slightly injured by breaking glass. Thankfully, Jon’s were the only injuries and they were minor, and healed fast.

To this day, Jon has no idea what the truck was doing blocking the road. He suspects that the driver might have been trying to make a U-turn, but wonders why he didn’t use the left turn lane and four lane road of the Tonto Natural Bridge turnoff only a mile away? Jon will never know the answers, as the driver of the truck left as quickly as he could, and despite the best efforts of law enforcement, he or she could not be found.

What can be found from this incident are lessons. Jon did nothing wrong, and in fact, he strongly believes that he had divine help in avoiding more serious injury, a thought I agree with having survived accidents myself that I know I had nothing to do with because I wasn’t skilled enough to get myself out. The first lesson that can be learned is to always focus. Jon was focused, and as a result, was able to walk away, and even get his car back a month or so later. What would have happened had Jon been speeding, or texting, or looking at the stars as he encountered the truck? Had he not known the road and appreciated the dangers of driving in the dark, it’s likely that accident could have been much worse.

What is also important to point out is that accidents and situations can happen at any time, and at any place. I, myself, have driven through the area where Jon had his accident probably one hundred times, both during the day and during the night. There is nothing about the road, or the terrain around it, that makes it a place where someone would say, “oh crap, this is an accident waiting to happen!” But one did happen on that night, and it is one of the most bizarre and unexpected situations that I can ever recall hearing about in that area, let alone on any road.

So the lessons we can take from Jon’s accident are these:

            Always appreciate the fact that no matter where you are, an accident can happen at any time.

            Always appreciate the fact that you, as a driver, will have to deal with the mind-boggling confused actions of fellow drivers. You can’t get away from them, and there will be times where those actions will occur at the worst possible time and place for both you, and the confused driver.

            Always honor the danger of the conditions and roads that you are driving on. Realize that when it is dark, you cannot see past your headlights, so you must slow down. Realize that when you are in the middle of the twists and turns and ups and downs of mountain roads, those ups and downs and twists and turns can easily hide a dangerous situation that you won’t see until you are right on top of it. So slow down, don’t let yourself be distracted, and realized that it can happen to you, just as it happened to Jon.

Jon has left for Montana today. I have wished him well and thanked him for his friendship. But even he realizes how random this situation was. He has also driven that stretch of road that he had his accident on numerous times, and never had a situation pop up…until the last time he drove it. I hope that we all can take Jon’s situation, and learn from it. Anyone can get in to a situation that results in an accident through no fault of their own. But if you honor your conditions, treat all driving situations as if they all can contain an accident, and keep your focus on the car, you will stand a better chance of coming out of the accident in good shape like Jon did. Safe travels my friend. Until next time…