Protected?

(This draws from an actual experience at the named interchange.)

Kay: What's wrong, Hal?

Hal: Nothing.

Bee: You don't look like nothing.

Non-chan: Traffic today?

Bee: The radio hasn't mentioned any traffic jams.

Hal: No jams. And no accidents -- by sheer luck.

Bee: Ah, so something happened.

Non-chan: Or almost happened?

Hal: I don't understand what the guy was thinking.

Kay: So, what happened?

Hal: You know the interchange at I-15 and I-80?

Non-chan: Interstate highways?

Bee: Yep. That's a nasty intersection. Not even close to a cloverleaf.

Hal: Yeah. I was on I-15, coming from the south. Not rush hour yet, not a lot of traffic. And there was a gap in the cars coming in from the east.

Kay: I hate that intersection. Always too many cars.

Hal: It shouldn't've been too bad today. In fact, it looked like there was going to be no merging traffic at all when I went through it.

Non-chan: 'Looked like'?

Hal: There was just one BMW entering the ramp from I-80 as I went over I-80.

Kay: So, then you saw it later in your rear-view mirror, tailgating, I suppose.

Hal: Never saw it in my rear-view mirror.

Non-chan: Ghost car?

Hal: Almost.

Bee: So what happened to it?

Hal: Next I saw it, it was riding my shoulder at the end of the on-ramp, just entering my side mirror's blind spot.

Kay: Whoa. That's hard acceleration.

Bee: Good thing you were in the middle lane, huh?

Hal: I wasn't in the middle lane.

Non-chan: You were in the cruising lane?

Hal: I was in the right lane, with traffic on my left.

Kay: No place to swerve?

Hal: No time to, either, even if there had been a place.

Bee: There's no shoulder there.

Hal: Not much. I was lifting my foot from the accelerator when the guy drew even with me, and I was able to slow down enough to let him in before the shoulder ended.

Non-chan: You've got good reaction time!

Hal: If I hadn't been looking for him, they'd be using the jaws of life right now to extract his body from the tangled mess of his ex-nice BMX and my old pick-up truck.

Bee: And you, too, probably.

Hal: I think I would have had a better chance to survive, because I had all of my truck between his car and mine.

Bee: Whisperings of the Spirit?

Hal: Yeah. Although I may have offended the Spirit with my thoughts afterwards.

Non-chan: Just your thoughts?

Hal: Heh. Words failed me.

Kay: I guess he wasn't wearing his seat-belt, either, huh?

Hal: Oh, he was wearing his seat belt, all right.

Non-chan: How do you know?

Hal: I saw that clearly through the window. Sunglasses, seatbelt, one-hand on the wheel, casually looking straight ahead, looking bored, as if he thought he was taking a Sunday drive in his neighborhood instead of breaking traffic laws and trying to break the laws of physics on the freeway.