and saved me from it.

I was a Freshman at Ricks College and was dating a girl from Idaho Falls. Her parents invited us over to their house for Sunday dinner. I'm not sure if you're familiar, but the road between Rexburg and Idaho Falls (at the time, anyway; I'm not sure if it is different now) had a 55 mph speed limit, and there were no on/off ramps. Roads just intersected the highway with a STOP sign at a 90º angle. I'm not a real speed demon, but if the speed limit is 55 mph, generally I'll go about 62 mph. It seems to me that most cops won't pull you over for 7 over. I was driving a 1974 Volkswagen Super Beetle.

We had a nice meal at her parents house, and before we left her father asked me about my driving. I was honest with him that I go a little over the speed limit, but not an unsafe or reckless speed. I mentioned that I generally go about 7 over. He made me promise that when driving back with his daughter to Rexburg that I would not go over 59 mph. I totally respected his concern for his daughter's safe arrival, and promised him that I wouldn't go over 59 mph. And I kept that promise.

While we were driving back, it was in the evening and it was dark. I noticed a car pull up to the STOP sign at the highway probably about a mile in front of us. It stopped and just stayed there. I commented to my girlfriend about how I wondered why the driver was just sitting there when there was no traffic keeping him or her from turning north in our direction, or crossing and going south. I didn't think much of it, but still noticed it. I was also making sure that I didn't go over 59 mph, because I actually took that promise that I made seriously.

Here is where things get a little murky. I can't say with any certainty how close we actually were to the stopped car because it all happened so fast. But as well as I can remember, when we were 10-15 yards from where the intersection where the car was stopped, that car suddenly pulled right into our lane and stopped right in front of us. Instinctively, I just whipped the wheel to the left. I don't remember if I even had time to hit the brakes or what. But we missed the car by what must have been and certainly felt like inches. Then we were headed for the median so I whipped the wheel back to the right and was able to get control of the car without it swerving out of control.

I've thought about that event several times over my life, and I'm convinced that it was a person trying to commit suicide. The driver pulled out last second to make sure they would be hit. There is zero doubt in my mind that if I had been going ANY faster than 59 mph, she and I would be either dead or would have been severely injured, as there is no engine in the front of a Volkswagen Beetle to absorb any impact. It would have crushed like a tin can.

When we passed the vehicle without any damage, I pulled over and the car that nearly killed us drove away south on the highway. We just sat there for probably ten minutes. She was sobbing, and I was just shaking. I asked her to thank her dad for me for being in tune with the Spirit enough to commit me to not exceed 59 mph. We drove back the rest of the way to Rexburg at about 45 mph with people probably wondering why we were driving so slowly.