Last night’s drive home was not one of my favourites. I’ve only just started working outside of Sheffield, which means a long drive on the M1 is fairly new to me. To get to work I have to travel five junctions down the M1, apart from the traffic this is not normally a problem.
However, last night was the first time I’ve driven home in such horrific weather conditions. It was throwing it down with rain, which meant severe restrictions on my visibility.
Normally I can’t wait to get home so I head for the fast lane, and hurry along. However within seconds of been in the fast lane I realised that I couldn’t see a thing.
With the rain crashing down on my wind-screen, and my window wipers on full speed, it was still blurry.
If it wasn’t for the well lit vehicles around me, I’d have been all over the place. I had to slam my breaks on a number of times.
I found my way over to the ‘slow lane’ and drove along smoothly. And eventually I managed to make it home safely.
All of this made me realise how easy I could have an accident. I like to look at myself as a sensible driver, and always think that things like that will never happen to me. Last night made me realise that the tiniest mistake really could cost me my life, or the life of another. I guess it’s what you call a reality check.
It was the same this morning, there were queues on the M1 due to poor visibility. This time it wasn’t rain, but fog patches.
After looking at the weather forecast for the next few weeks it doesn’t look like the weathers going to be getting any better, which means more trouble on the roads.
Hopefully we’ll all manage to get through this messed up weather together. It’s the simple things like remembering to turn on our lights, or to indicate when changing lanes that helps yourself and other drivers stay safe on our roads.
