You nearly killed me

This is a message to all drivers, but directed to one.

Please drive with care, as I barely avoided a head-on collision with you and your newer model white truck on Hwy 33 at approximately 4:15 pm on Friday February 19.

Driver, if you are reading this, please continue reading. We saw that you were speeding as your truck completely crossed the centre line of Hwy 33 just past the hairpin corner on the Kelowna side. I slammed on my breaks and swerved to the right to avoid hitting you head on. I saw you. My 16 year old son saw you. The road was turning, but you did not. You were in my lane. You were heading directly towards me and my son. You almost hit the barrier on our right hand side and then you missed us as you adjusted and swerved past my son and me. In those few seconds, I thought I was going to die with my son. I could not avoid you.

My son asked me if I needed to pull over and I did. I broke down because I thought in that instant, when I saw you in my lane heading towards us, I thought we were going to have a head on collision and my son and I were going to be killed by you. No safety features in my vehicle would have protected me from you and your carelessness.

My son who is about to start driving asked me what I thought happened. My only response was "The driver was speeding, and the driver was distracted. Anyone who was paying attention would have turned with the corner – unless they were distracted, and they were speeding." Which you clearly were.

I hope this experience shook you. I hope that you were able to see that in those few seconds when you were not paying attention to the road, that you almost took out a mother and child. I would have left behind a husband of 30 years and a 19 year old son. Please be more careful. Pay attention to the road. You almost changed a family's life.

Nicola Hopfner