If My Sump Pump Weren't Working, You'd Be Dead

I had what I hope will forever hold its record as The Scariest Day of My Life on Friday. The letter I sent home with my daycare kids probably tells the story best:

28 August 2009

Parents,

This is to inform you of an incident which occurred this morning at Franklin Middle School, which you may wish to discuss with your children.

I had just dropped off Haley and Harrison at the “Girls’ Entrance” and turned right to drive past the main entrance of the school, when a boy whose father had stopped in the no parking zone across the street tried to run around our van as it was driving past the school. Unfortunately, because he came from behind the van, I didn’t even see him approaching until he actually ran into the van. Luckily, I had my foot over the brake as we were coasting through a high traffic area, so the boy was not seriously injured. (He did get a nasty road rash on his ankle, but it didn’t look swollen or broken. His father drove him to an urgent care clinic to get it checked, and I haven’t heard anything further.)

I called 911 immediately after they took the boy to the school clinic, and they dispatched an officer who, after investigating, informed me the only way this accident could have been avoided would have been for the father to have dropped his son off in an appropriate area, and/or for the boy to have had the common sense not to run in front of a moving vehicle (but those of us who have kids know that an excited young person on his way to the fourth day at a new school has plenty else on his mind). The officer issued no traffic tickets, and repeatedly told me (I was a bit upset) that if anybody were to receive a citation, it would be the father who parked illegally and encouraged his son to jaywalk into traffic.

The boy and his father were very apologetic; the father gently admonished his son for running into traffic and not looking carefully, and the boy let me give him a hug and said he knew I did everything I could to avoid him.

That notwithstanding, I will forever be haunted by what could have happened. If I had been distracted or in a hurry, if the road had been saturated and thus my tires not had traction when I hit the brakes, if our sump pump had not kept our basement dry, and I’d been up all night vacuuming water out of our basement like last summer so I was tired and not as alert this morning…that child could have been seriously injured or killed. So many lives ruined in an instant because Dad was in a hurry to get to work.

I always make it a point to ensure that none of my daycare students EVER walk in traffic to get to or from their school buildings, even if I am walking with them. Furthermore, I lecture them constantly about being careful in parking lots, driveways, and along the street from our house to the pool – but particularly before and after school, when people more concerned with getting to work or home are not paying attention as they should. Please use this near-miss brush with disaster to emphasize traffic safety to your child, and please please please NEVER put your child in the situation of having to cross a busy street to get to school or other activities. It is so worth the extra 5 minutes to get them to a safe drop off point.

If you have any questions, I’ll be happy to discuss with you – but please give me a couple days so I’ll feel up to talking about this. I still get shaky when I think about what could have happened (hence this written communication – I don’t feel up to explaining to each parent individually just yet).