Crashing and Waiting

The days are slowly passing by as due date is getting closer and pregnancy discomforts are requiring more and more attention. People are asking "when are you due?" "boy or a girl?" "how are you doing?" and life seems to be all about baby and belly at the moment.

But sometimes something happens which snaps you right out of the drowsy baby-state of mind, like when husband calls home to say he just crashed his motorbike.

"... Are you ok?" He says yes but I can hear that he's pretty shaken. It strikes me how vulnerable we are, just the two of us, one month before our son will be born. Every day Helge rides his bike to work. Every day he enjoys the ride and the feeling of freedom it provides. Then one day somebody hits him from behind while he's waiting for the green light. He's knocked hard off the lane, scratching the car in front of him on the side. He could do nothing to prevent it and all fault is on the driver that hit him. But he's on a bike. Bikes don't have airbags or doors or steel hulls. You're in the free space with your body, which is the bless and the doom of motorbiking.

He was lucky this time. He was pushed off to the side instead of being squeezed between the two cars. He didn't even tip over or fall off. And x-rays from the hospital confirms that the neck and the ribs are ok. Thank God.

Driving in Florida is a risky business. Every week, some of the highways are closed down for a while because of accidents. Heavy traffic and queues seems to be more often caused by accidents than by rush hour. Apparently Florida do not have laws against talking on the phone while driving. There are plenty of warnings around, huge bulletin boards along the highways saying TXT + DRIVE = RIP and similar word games, but it is not prohibited. Wearing a helmet when riding a motorbike is recommended, but not compulsory. So what do people do? They talk on the phone while switching lanes on 95 going 70 miles per hour (112 km/t) , and ride their bikes with wind in their ponytails.

I got my Florida driving license a couple of weeks ago. Since I'm foreign, I need to complete a full test like all first timers in the US, which means completing a theory test and do a proper driving test. Proper driving test means you need to prove that you can drive forward, backwards, turn, stop and park. The theory test is a multiple choice questionnaire on a touch screen that takes about 10 minutes to complete, you don't even sit down for it. I paid 49$ for the whole session and I could walk out with a temporary license, waiting for my ID card to arrive in the post a few days later.

So Florida has a lot of big roads, millions of cars with millions of drivers who acquired their license for the first time the same way I did (if they bother applying for it at all), talking on the phone while driving is a common habit, helmets are considered nerdy (luckily I have a sensibly nerdy husband) and drinking and driving is acceptable. Driving in Florida is a life risking necessity.

Helge was lucky this time. His helmet has scratches, which means if he'd been one of the many cool dudes that cruise around with only sunglasses and a scarf on the head, he probably would't be chatting normally with me in our living room right now. So what can we learn from this experience? Drive more carefully perhaps? We can always try - but the Florida traffic isn't going to change. I guess it remains a simple reminder of doing all the little things right, like wearing helmets, buckle up, NOT using the phone while driving, installing baby car seat correctly ... and hope for the best.

In about 5 weeks time we're bringing our baby home. Life is precious. That car seat will be installed weeks in advance, just in case.