The Go Cart, My First Driving Experience Without Sight
A few winters ago, my dad bought a go-cart. I was quite pleased because I thought this would be my first chance to get to drive. I had long wanted someone to let me drive there vehicle but for obvious reasons I couldn't find anyone willing to let a blind person drive theirs. I guess no one had a good enough insurance policy, or at least one that covered damage while being driven by a blind.
It happened to be January and we live near a frozen lake so we decided to take the go-cart out there. This was going to be great. I would get to drive, and I'd be driving on a largely flat surface with hopefully little or nothing to crash into. The unfortunate bit was the motor in the go-cart was mounted only a few inches behind the driver's head. I guess, I'd be on my own and wouldn't be able to rely on shouted instructions from any one else with me. Naturally, because of the position of the motor, I was a little apprehensive, so I would drive a few feet, stop, and drive a few more feet, and stop again.
Frustrated with me for my newly acquired lack of driving skills, my father yelled at me that I could drive like that for half an hour and not hit the other side of the lake. This puzzled me because the lake we lived near happened to be little more than a large pond, and I'd have thought driving anything for half an hour would mean you could cross the lake several times. I decided though, that since I had been told I could drive that long with out hitting anything I'd just let go and drive like it was New Years Eve 1999. I took off across the lake and after five or ten minutes I stopped to see if I could hear any one behind me. Hearing only silence, I started up again and proceeded further across the lake.
I was having a blast, until after a few more minutes of what will be as close to reckless driving as I'll ever get, there was a big bang, and the go cart stalled as the front of it hit something and rose up a foot or foot and a half or so. Sitting in the comparative silence, fore with the impact the motor, that all but powerful six horse powered thing of beauty, had stalled and shut off, I wondered what exactly had happened. I guess my father was wrong. He said I could drive for half and hour and not reach the other side of the lake, half an hour. I sat there wondering what to do as the realization that I had driven up on the other side of the lake sunk in.
I decided to just wait until my brother or dad or someone else showed up. I waited a while. Still all I heard was silence, except for the occasional birdcall. Great I thought, I'm out here, in the country, all alone, and it's January. Sitting there, I began to entertain thoughts of the large coyote population that lived around my town. They certainly aren't scared of people as several had come into town over past years. I wondered how they'd react to a little blind sitting all by himself with nothing better than a boot or a key for a weapon. Would I be easy pickens?
Just as I was contemplating taking off a boot and having it ready for the hordes of coyotes I imagined, my brother came running up. Apparently it was my fault the whole thing had happened because I got going to fast. My brother helped me get the go-cart turned around and down from what felt like Mount Everest, and we returned to the rest of my family.
When we got back, I further got lectured about going to fast. I guess I can't drive very well. Imagine that, a blind person who can't drive safely.
Needless to say, I was not impressed, and I only drove that stupid go-cart once. I sometimes wonder too, what would have happened if someone from social services had driven by and witnessed these goings on.