Time Crawls

They say time slows down during a catastrophe. I don’t remember any personal experiences in which that happened, but I did witness someone else’s misfortune the other day which seemed to happen in slow motion.

I was on a one-way street when someone decided to cut across several lanes of traffic in order to make a left turn. My wife and I just watched in shock as he angled across the road and was hit by a taxi. Both cars were going pretty slow, so I’m sure nobody was hurt (otherwise I wouldn’t have posted about it).

Anyway, it was just strange. I was staring at the car, knowing something terrible was going to happen. I couldn’t have been looking for more than a second or two, but it seemed like it was a lot longer that I wasn’t watching where I was going, which could have been bad.

Does anybody out there have similar examples? (I mean the time slowing down thing, not the “not watching the road” thing. I don’t want to feel more frightened on the road.)

Comments

)en said…
I'm trying really hard but I can't think of any time standing still stories. I wonder why that is though. Is it because it was so traumatic that it leaves a longer stamp in our brain/memory so we're able to re-live it more clearly? It's more memorable?

I do have a story about not watching the road, though. It's a good one: it's called, when i don't drive for months and months and months and then go to Utah and drive, I forget that i need to be watching the road when I am in a vehicle as opposed to in NY when i can look out the window when i'm in a cab or on the bus and i don't put anyone in great peril. I learn that i can't really look at the scenery when I"m driving. But the good news is that I"m back in NY.

the end.
August 1, 2008 at 3:13 PM
Jer said…
I saw a truck hit the sidewall on the freeway, catching some air and doing a barrel roll before hitting the ground upside-down. Scary crap.
August 5, 2008 at 12:14 PM
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