Collision Course

There is a road that connects the cities of Auburn and Opelika in Alabama. This road has multiple names. Google Maps calls it Opelika Road, Pepperell Parkway, Alabama State Road 14, and 2nd Avenue, depending on the location. Opelika Road is good enough for this story.

There is a point in Auburn where Opelika Road changes from four lanes to two lanes. This change takes place on a hill, so visibility is poor for drivers coming from either direction. Passing isn’t allowed at that location because drivers can’t always see if anyone is driving toward them.

Back in my mid-20s, my friend James B drove us around Auburn in his multi-colored Volkswagen Beetle. He’d had fender-benders and replaced parts of his car with junkyard parts of different colors. The car had a unique look.

James B was driving on Opelika Road. When the four lanes changed to two lanes, he crossed the yellow line to pass a car and nearly collided with a police car coming from the opposite direction. He swerved back into “our” lane just as the police car’s blue light and siren came on. The police driver started a U-turn.

Because of the hill, for a few seconds, we were out of the policeman’s sight, and James B drove behind an auto tire shop and parked. His car wasn’t visible from Opelika Road. We walked to the road as the police car flew past us. We crossed the street and sat in front of the old Auburn Dairy Queen (long gone now) and watched the police car drive past us several times. Finally, he went away. We waited several more minutes, then walked back to his car, and he drove me home.

Since James B’s car was so unique-looking, I took it for granted that the local police would hunt him down sooner or later, but they never did. Well, not for that.