We’ve basically seen the first part of this video many, many times before, and it almost always ends in behavior that makes you feel a little ashamed to be a human. Dangerous driving mistakes are made, someone narrowly avoids death, and then people, full of insecurity and guilt and wrath and fear, lash out at one another. Not this time. This is one of those rare cases where decent humanity has been caught on camera.
Watch this. It’s one of the only guy-almost-gets-creamed-on-a-motorcycle videos that will make you feel good:
Look at that. Both sides admitted their errors, and the guy in the Ford Escape seems genuinely concerned about the motorcyclist. There’s no aggression or anger here, just two people who very narrowly avoided a tragic situation and are doing their best to deal with that in the immediate aftermath.
I feel bad for both people here—the biker for the terror of a near-death experience and the driver who seems absolutely shaken by the thought of what could have happened.
When the biker gets back out on the road and screams, it’s even more impressive; he, full of adrenalin and whatever the hell else your brain pumps into you in these situations, managed to contain his likely cathartic outburst until the interaction was over.
Both of these people handled a shitty situation with real dignity and grace. We don’t have to be slaves to road rage, and these guys just proved it.
(Thanks, James!)