Near Collison

Yesterday I went to the Girl Scout store to pick up the Daisy patches. Todd had called while I was in the store so I called him back after I got back in the van. I started driving and chatting (yes, I know – dangerous, but it’s not against the law here in AL) Anyway, I am driving down Hwy. 72 in the left lane at normal speed, about 50 or so. Traffic is normal for midmorning. All of sudden I realize that there is a small red car in my lane coming towards me! Ummm, wow – that’s weird – there’s a car coming toward me – IN MY LANE!!! All of this is processed in my head and through my mouth to Todd on the phone as I slam on the brakes and jerk the wheel to the left into the turn lane/median. Luckily it was empty at the time. The van runs up onto the concrete median at the end of the turn lane and I caught a glimpse of the car behind me swerve towards the right to avoid hitting me in the rear. The little old lady driving the red car? She just turns right in front of me and then turns left with the flow of traffic and continues on down 72 like nothing happened. I am stunned and just sit there for several minutes to collect my wits. Todd is talking and I am trying to explain what happened. Finally, he told me to just get back on the road and find a parking lot to park to call him back. I am still looking around for someone, hopefully a police officer who saw what happened.