a forgotten intuitive moment

when I lived in Duluth I had two little kids. I was taking them to the library, The big library downtown. We lived in the western part of the city. My options were to take the freeway, or take the other roads. It was a nice sunny spring/summer day so I took the route less traveled. When we got to a fairly busy intersection there was much slowed traffic, a traffic cop, and an accident ahead. I slowly drove past when it was my turn only to realize the person was sitting in the car that had been hit by a dump truck who failed to stop at a stop sign. The car was seriously messed up. The driver looked annoyed more than anything. She was sitting in the passenger seat with the door open waiting for police to do their thing. That woman was my mother. I pulled into the gas station that is right near there and left the kids locked in the car(which I rarely did, but I couldnt take them with me so what choice did I have?) No one even attempted to stop me from entering the scene. I found my mom and hugged her and asked if she was alright. she was. If I had taken the freeway I would never have even seen there was an accident.