DG's Travels Week 48 aftermath

How quickly an evening of enjoyment and relaxation can change to something quite different. Heading north on the motorway to Dundee at a steady 65mph, I was on the point of overtaking a large lorry when a young lady suddenly appeared staggering out from the central reservation. She was only 16-17 and clearly out of her mind on drink or drugs, with no idea what she was doing. Every micro second of almost 50 years driving experience, often averaging over 40,000 miles /year, came into play as I sought to miss her, avoid hitting the side of the lorry and not overturn my own car in the process. Every warning light on the dashboard was flashing as the car's computer-aided system sought to help. I bless ABS and all the many other systems designed to make driving safer.By some miracle the car coming up behind me also missed her and in my rear view mirrors, I could see her staggering on to reach the west side of the road.
Doubtless she would have woken up the following morning feeling somewhat hungover, and totally oblivious of her close brush with death. All sorts of questions then pass through your mind. What was she doing there, who had plied her or allowed her to overdose on drink or drugs, why was no one looking after her, did her parents know where she was and what she was up to trying to cross such a dangerous road at that time of night. Overall, there was the thought that a young life could have been cut short far too soon and that, however blameless I might have been had I hit and fatally injured her, how difficult would I have found it to live with such a tragedy? I also have to ask what is so badly wrong with our culture that the young, and not so young, only seem to get any enjoyment by going out to deliberately finish an evening out of their minds on drink or drugs. Is it too much money too early in life, uncaring parenets or simply a society with totally misplaced values.
The one real crumb of comfort is the thought of the endeavours of so many Rotarians to warn young people of the perils of such substances, and their work to involve them in groups which care about standards, care about each other and care about society. However, my final thought is that what about the next time for the young lady? Will she be confronted by a less experienced driver or one with slower reflexes, or will she simply have staggered that bit further to make a fatal collision inevitable? Is there any way in which such an outcome can be avoided? It was a very sobbering thought.