every year, when the first big rains hit, there is a bevy of accidents because people forget or don't know to slow down. they drive exactly as fast and as wreckless as they would were the roads dry. five years ago, i was one of those people.

January 1998, i was driving to work down 280. it was raining pretty hard but traffic was light and i was cruising. i was "only" going about 70 miles-an-hour, thinking that slowing down from my usual break-neck speed was safe enough. right before the intersection with Highway 92, i hit a patch of water. the car hydroplaned, turned briefly to the left, then spun around and around across four lanes of traffic. i was completely out of control. no steering, no brakes. finally, i got the car going one direction. unfortunately it was backwards but at least i was off the freeway and i hadn't hit any other cars. then, just as that thought entered my head ... BAM! i hit a huge, concrete light standard. i hit so hard that my seat reclined backwards. when i collected myself and got out to look, the car was wrapped around the standard, the rear axel bent towards the engine. i was fine. shaken, sore but intact. it was a bad spot in the road -- there was a 12-car pileup as i sat there waiting for the tow truck. but i should have known better. i should have slowed down. and i was lucky i wasn't killed.

this morning, i knew better. i did slow down. but someone else didn't. she zoomed past me and i scolded her. moments later she was in the same spin i'd been in five years earlier -- across the freeway, didn't touch another car, took out a huge road sign, and then stopped in the mud. i pulled over to make sure she was ok. she was fine. shaken, sore but intact. i comforted her, kept her dry, told her she was lucky, and quietly hoped she'd learn something from this dangerous lesson.

slow down, my friends. it's raining out there.