This morning, I was late for work.
I did not leave late. It usually takes about 6-7 minutes to drive from my house to work. Today, I left, as usual, about 35 minutes before I was to start. But, I was 15 minutes late.
The reason that I was late is because there was a huge accident on the Westmoreland St bridge, which connects my area of the city to the south side. Both directions were blocked, so traffic was jammed up across the whole span. The southbound traffic is what usually fills the bridge in the morning. After a few folks in the inside lane realized that they were going nowhere fast, they U-turned northbound and headed off the bridge.
Once the way was clear, I did the same and headed for the Princess Margaret bridge, which was in the opposite direction from my workplace. I was only 15 minutes late.
There were several cars involved in the accident and I’ve not heard if anyone was seriously hurt or not. The road was bare this morning, but I imagine that, since it was -27°C this morning, some people had a hard time getting their cars started on time. Add that to a chronic late departure is a recipe for an accident any day. I see the same thing happen when it storms. These accidents happen because someone stopped paying attention at the wrong moment, usually because they’re in too much of a hurry.
Is dying or killing worth being “on time”? Personally, I’d rather be late and live. Or, even better, I check out the weather forecast the night before so that I know if I will have to get up a bit early to shovel my car out or if I have to allow extra time in case my car won’t easily start. It only takes a minute and I arrive alive. I sure wish that these poor folks, who at the least have smashed up cars, had done the same. Nobody needs the results of an accident.