Check your brakes.

For the past week or so I have been making rookie mistakes in the car.  Engaging the clutch before the brake and thus rolling ahead a few inches, not putting the car into gear when I turn it off.  Forgetting the parking break.  Stupid things.  I know better. Since recognizing that I had gotten careless I have been better at paying attention.  I have also been paying better attention to other drivers, wondering at their level of distraction.

This morning, after picking up our first of the season load of veggies from our local sailboat CSA, we stopped at the local grocer to fill in the gaps.  After loading the groceries into the car Doodle went to return the cart.  The cart stall was only a few cars away, no one was in any of the cars so they wouldn't be pulling out and he wouldn't have to cross traffic.  Parking lots scare me.  I'm careful.

As he was pushing the cart into the catch stall, the car across from the stall started rolling down the hill towards him. I screamed and ran, he shoved the cart and ran out of the way.  The car missed him by no more than three feet.  It hit the cart stall and pushed it all into the open front of the store where the produce manager and several bystanders managed to stop the car before it made it's way into the crowded building.  The cart my seven year old boy was pushing was lodged under the front wheels of the car.

The distracted driver, on her way home from church and on her way to a family picnic, had forgotten to  engage the emergency brake.  No one was hurt and property damage was minimal.  All just a little blip on a sunny Sunday morning.  It could have been very, very bad.

We are fine, minus the killer post adrenaline headache.  Doodle has told and retold his story.  He remembers seeing the car rolling towards him and feeling confused that there was no driver.

So take this as a warning, check your brake.  Pay attention.  There is nothing more important.