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Getting hit by a car is a less than pleasurable experience, whether you have a few tons of steel wrapped around you or you are just out running. I would like to share a little story from when I was a child.

When I was in middle school, my brother got rear-ended while he was waiting to turn into our driveway after school. After being forced into the other lane, he was side-swiped by a dump truck. The only seat left in his vehicle was the driver's seat. Had anybody else been in the car they would have probably been killed. My brother was out of the hospital that night, and the next day he was the high scorer in the basketball game.

That was the first day all year that I did not get a ride home from school from my brother. One year later to the day, I was out running near the school. I came out of a parking lot, turned onto the road, and began running along the shoulder while I waited for a utility van to pass me so that I could cross the street.

As the van passed me, I looked up the road and saw that it was all clear. I could see about a quarter mile until the road turned, and there was no traffic except for the van that was passing me. After it had gone by, I ran behind the van and started to cross to the other side.

In the time that it took for the van to cut off my vision of the road ahead and for me to run behind it, a woman had come around the turn and was speeding past the school towards me. I heard her slam on her breaks and as I looked up I knew exactly how a deer must feel when it looks into the headlight.

I distinctly remember thinking, "Oh s**t, I'm about to be hit by a car." That thought was immediately followed by, "That's probably not a good idea. I should try to get out of the way."

Those were my exact thoughts in the 2 or 3 seconds that I had before the car hit. I jumped for the snow banks in an effort to not get hit, and I almost made it. The car was going much faster than I was, though, and it weighed a whole lot more than I did. I was lucky in that I only caught my ankle on the bumper and got tumbled into the snow; the accident could have been a lot worse.

The woman that hit me was speeding, but it was not her fault that I got hit. I was not paying enough attention, and I made a stupid assumption about the road that I was on that came back to bite me.

In a way, though, I am glad that both that woman and I were idiots that day. I got hit by a car in a way that scared the hell out of me without causing me any permanent damage. I was running again in about a week.

There are very few situations where a runner is going to win any sort of conflict with an automobile. Those few situations tend to be less than legal and rarely involve the automobile being in motion. I may be a little paranoid, but I have assumed in almost every one of the 20,000+ miles that I have run since then that there was a car coming that might hit me.

What would happen to you and your family if a car hit you on your next run? When I got hit, I was not carrying any sort of identification with me. If I had hit my head and was unconscious, there was nobody running with me that could have told the paramedics who I was or who to contact about my care.

Whenever I run now, I try to follow a few simple rules.

1. I run facing traffic unless there is a local law stating that I shouldn't.
2. I make myself visible. Bright clothing, reflective gear, and flashing lights or headlamps are all tools that I might wear depending upon the conditions.
3. I make myself predictable. I do not weave into and out of the road and I try to run as straight as possible.
4. I keep my eyes up ahead of me and make sure that I am aware of both oncoming traffic and any traffic that might be coming off of side roads or driveways.
5. I make eye contact with drivers who are stopped. If they won't look at me, then I will point at them until they do. I want to make sure that a driver knows that I am there before that driver pulls into me.
6. I always carry some sort of identification with me when I run.
7. I write emergency contact info onto the bib when I race using a pen or marker. If there is a space on the back for it then I will fill it in there, otherwise I will include an "ICOE" (in case of emergency) phone number on the front.

I recommend that you think about your own safety and that you try to be aware of your surroundings when you are running. I also recommend that you always carry some sort of identification with you in case the worst should happen.

Run safe.

Blaine Moore has been running since the early nineties, and regularly competes in distances between the 5k and the 50k. To sign up for Blaine's Running Tips Newsletter, visit http://www.RunToWin.com or http://www.Marathoning.org

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