I was reading about different forms of compensation one can claim after accidents and all of a sudden I had this idea that I was going to talk about my first day of classes, what I liked and what I disliked so far. Instead, I’m going to talk about what happened to me this evening, sometime before 7pm.

I was driving the car (not the car that I’m used too, this one is larger, still a sedan, but larger, easier to go fast in, quieter and just a car that I’m not used to driving) to pick up my sister at the train station. I’m still considered a Novice driver by my license. I haven’t taken my second road test yet, so I’m still considered a “novice”. This was also the first time that I was driving this particular car by myself.

I was going at 50km/hr (the speed limit was 50km/hr, I rarely speed if I can help it). There were cars parked on both sides of the road, but it’s a two lane street. I was going at 50km/hr when a ball is somehow thrown into the road, I press down on the brakes hard because just a few seconds after the ball appeared into my view, a small child (probably younger than 4 or 5) runs out into the street from between two parked cars to retrieve the ball.

I stopped about a foot away from the child.

The child didn’t look up, just retrieved the ball and then ran back between the parked cars on the side of the road to the front yard where he was playing.

There was no one else in that yard. There was no adult sitting outside, the curtains were drawn closed, the front door was closed.

This child, from my vantage point in the car, had no adult (or any) supervision.

And I just nearly ran into him with a car.

I mean, I didn’t, but the fact that I nearly did was enough for me to make my sister drive after I reached the train station. My hands were shaking a little and I was just mostly pissed. Pissed because the child had no supervision, no one to tell him not to run out into the street, no one to yell for him to stop. Pissed because the child should win a freaking Darwin Award for not even realizing that they were out in the street where there are cars. It wasn’t even as if that street’s not busy. I lucked out in that there was no cars behind me when I slammed on the brakes. That child lucked out in that the person driving was actually going to speed limit and not flying down the hill (most people go around 70-80km/hr in that stretch, which is pretty bad). There was so many different factors that if it had been a little different, someone would have gotten hurt, or worse.

Now I need chocolate.