Drunk Driver Swerved Off Road In Front of Him – Robb Conlon (Transcript – S5E13)

(sneak peek)

ROBB: It was really late at night.

We are following
this car and this car flies by us,

 and then all of a sudden 500 feet ahead of us.
They slam on their brakes and they keep doing this for 6, 7, 8 miles and

car makes a right
turn into the ditch, just boom, 

(intro music)

BHAVNEET: Welcome back to another episode of drive
with us podcast. I’m Bhavneet.

TARANJIT: And I’m Taranjit., and we’re super
excited to have you ride with us as our drivers take us quantum adventurous
drives around the world,

BHAVNEET: but a little quick car keeping before we
meet today’s driver. We’re starting to line up guests for season six.

So if you or
anybody, you know, would be interested in coming on. You can fill out the
interest form in the show notes below, or visit our
website@drivewithuspodcast.com. We look forward to hearing your stories.

TARANJIT: And now let’s meet today’s driver, Rob
from. Rob Conlon is a founder of Westport studios, LLC. Whether he’s recording
audio books and advertisements, building and hiring for multimillion dollars,
client service department, creating Stevie award-winning social media
experiences or producing any one of the dozens of podcasts he’s been involved
in Rob lives and breeze, audio, audience, building and podcasts. Here’s Rob.

(transition music) 

BHAVNEET: Welcome Rob to drive with us podcast.
Thank you so much for joining us today.

ROBB: Oh, it’s wonderful to be here. Both of
you really appreciate you having beyond this is one that took too long for me
to get my rear end gear on. So I apologize, .

TARANJIT: It has been a long time coming, but
we’re super excited to hear your crazy driving stories, especially the little
glimpse that we’ve gotten, but before we dive into those crazy diamond stories,
let’s get to know a little bit about you as a driver. How would you describe
your relationship with driving?

ROBB: it’s one of those really strange things
of everybody in society thinks they’re an above average driver. I actually
think I am an above average average driver and that’s not me trying to be
pompous or, full of myself. I tend to make fewer mistakes. Now, if you ask my
wife, what kind of driver I am, I am an overly cautious driver

and I think that
probably has some overlap in the way I see myself versus the way she sees me. I
don’t tend to take too many risks, although maybe some of the upcoming stories
will prove that,

TARANJIT: yeah, I feel like that’s something that
just comes with age. The older you get, the more experience you have you start
to mellow out a little more

ROBB: most definitely. I think it’s one of
those things where, especially as a guy, like you’re a teenager and you’re just
this Crock-Pot of hormones, it’s awful and you want to do everything cause you
think you’re invincible. Back then I did have some very, big things that I did
that were not smart, but less so than some of my friends who, one got run over
by another one of my friend’s cars.

 One wrapped around a tree. There was all sorts
of wild stories that are not my driving stories to tell.

BHAVNEET: It’s interesting. , I completely agree
how you said that everyone thinks that they’re an above average driver. Let’s
go into your crazy driving experiences and to see what kind of things you’ve
experienced on the road.

ROBB: One of the stupidest things I’ve ever
done in my life was my grandmother owned a, 1998 Toyota Avalon. And if anybody
knows what that car looks like, it’s very plain. It’s technically Alexis with
just different stickers and decals on it. And this thing is a sleeper of a car.

It is a grandma
and grandpa looking sedan. But my grandparents went in on it really big with
what was under the hood. They opted for like the premium engine and the extra
transmission all of these other things it’s not racing stuff or anything like
that, but it certainly wasn’t this slow little car.

Well, my silly
self, I was probably 19 or 20 years old, I was going to college on the Western
side of Wisconsin. I live on the Eastern side of Wisconsin and I was driving
back to college between Sparta, Wisconsin, and lacrosse, Wisconsin. And if you
know anything about that part of the state, it’s right before things get hill
and valley before the Mississippi river there are some very straight stretches
of freeway there that go. 2030 miles, things like that. I thought, man, you
know what? I got this car that’s sleeper, you know, I’ve never been a racer or
anything like that, but she moves pretty good. I wonder how fast this thing can
go.

And of course,
you’re this again, very late teens, early twenties, mindset of hope booth.
like, this is the dumbest thing ever. You hit a deer, you’re dead, and of
course I’m thinking the Sheriff’s nothing would be wrong. A mix, crossover, the
speed limit there at the time was 65.

And I took that
grandma car all the way up to 128 miles an hour. And I still had a year ago. at
that point, the logic side of my brain kicked in and said, you’re going to be
that young dumb guy who dies. And I said, oh, I had this like break point
epiphany. Wow. This is a really bad idea. I don’t know how to slow down from
this speed.

I just coasted it
right down because if I wiggle my wheel to the side left or right now I’m going
off at a giant angle into a ditch. That was a really dumb idea. Especially ,
having four years of driving experience.

TARANJIT: Alicia, you had the realization to slow
down because I feel like some people might, in that case at that age might just
keep going and then it would end badly and then, be like, oh, thousands
smarter.

ROBB: Right. Top it out and something fails
then you’re in real trouble. I counted my lucky stars that day, for sure.

 Another one when I was a bit younger, I had
just met my wife a couple of years beforehand, . And it was really late at
night.

It was 1130
midnight, something like that. We’re a little tire from a full day of work and
then a three and a half hour drive, , being two hours through it. And. We are
following this car and this car flies by us, not 128 miles an hour past, but
you know, 90, we go, oh man, what’s, what’s his hurry.

 And then all of a sudden 500 feet ahead of us.
They slam on their brakes and they keep doing this for 6, 7, 8 miles of just
this, back and forth, back and forth and back and forth and it’s like, what is
this person’s problem? So we got on the phone with the highway patrol and said,
we’re west of Exonian we’re Trent.

And this isn’t the
time before like smartphones were ubiquitous. So we had, you know, Nokias and,
, we are witnessing what we think is a drunk driver and this person is acting
tremendously dangerously, Get out of here before they kill somebody. That’s not
us trying to be like a Karen this person flew by us and was, actively, menacing
other drivers and, we didn’t want to necessarily go and try to pass this person
because we figured they just, clip us what we followed this car at a, at a
distance.

Cause it’s the
only road, major road across Wisconsin. There’s a couple of others, but you’ll
leave the fastest major road at that hour. And all of a sudden you’re traveling
the same lane, right-hand lane. Third of a mile back, . We’re just keeping our
distance here.

Car makes a right
turn into the ditch, just boom, and goes 150 feet out into a swampy marsh slash
corn field. And I’m like, really. Really and there’s nobody around, it’s in the
middle of rural farm country where the only car behind them on the road.

And we called the
highway patrol, 20 minutes ago. So we’re not even anywhere close to where we
were it’s like, oh crap. , at the time I’m like 23 now. And the hopefully a
little older and wiser than story, number one. But it’s like, what if this
person is really hurt

well, I’ve got a
first respond to it so I, pulled the car over and of course, I’m there with my
girlfriend who is now my wife And you care about people out of the dark and
lonesome highways, I said, if anything goes wrong, you just drive.

Screwed over the
console and you just drive away, leave me here. . I go, and I approached the
vehicle as best I can. And all of a sudden, the driver’s door burst open and
this raggedy woman piles out and it’s like, what is going on here?

I can barely see
her in the dark, but I can tell him this is a very disheveled woman. And she
stumbles back towards me. I tell her, are you okay? And I, and she’s moving
fairly well. I assuming she’s known that on a broken leg or anything like that,
but she’s coming back towards me and this woman is liquored up beyond belief.

This one is so
drunk and I’m like, are you okay? She’s like, yeah, I’m fine. It’s great. I
think we’ve got some help coming for you. , I don’t want to be the bad guy
here, but you’re hammered and you just drove your car off the road and you
probably need some help that I shouldn’t provide.

She eventually
works her way over through the actual, swampy ditch area and back up onto the
shoulder of the road. And she sits down right next to me and we wait for the
cops. in that time she tells me her life story. I don’t remember much of it now
because it’s like 12 years later, but I can still remember how she told me that
she had a falling out with her mother.

And that’s why she
had drank so heavily tonight. I just remember saying to her, your mom is glad
you’re alive right now. Something may happen to you here very shortly. That is,
going to change your life. But I can tell you, I’m glad you’re okay. And your
mom is buying through. Then one of Wisconsin highway patrol is finest rolls up
a few minutes later.

I mean, it took
him forever to get there, this officer rolls up. He doesn’t even ask who I am.
And he’s just like, what’s the deal? Who is she? And why is that car in the
ditch? And I went, , her name is, I can’t remember what her name was, but her
name was Diane or whatever it might be.

And that is her
car in the ditch. do you need anything from me officer? He says, no. And I’m
like, okay, bye. So I jumped back in the car and I am out of there as fast as I
could be. , I never did find out or was even contacted for what happened there.
But actually I was just driving back, the night before last from Madison,

and I passed that
spot and I had a major flashback but, I hope she turned her life around.

TARANJIT: Yeah, hopefully. Oh my gosh. I’ve heard
in those stories that the drunk driver usually doesn’t get as hurt as whoever
They end up hitting. If they do end up hitting someone. So maybe she just
didn’t feel it in the moment.

ROBB: They bounced, they really do.

TARANJIT: How you were describing the other night
that you went past that spot and you just pictured it all over again. I had a

similar experience
where I saw someone. They were going the opposite direction that I was going.
And they didn’t realize the person in front of them had stopped to turn.

And they last
minute swerved, bounced off the guardrail, and left like a huge chunk of paint
from their car. And they were able to correct themselves and keep going. But
like every time I pass that spot, I just see the car just bouncing off the
guardrail.

BHAVNEET: you have to be very careful. You never
know who’s going to be driving intoxicated or who’s going to be driving like a
crazy person.

ROBB: You also both don’t live in Wisconsin. I
have a friend from, a former Soviet satellite state who has said to me at one
point he lives just south of me here. He says that his very thick Russian
accent grew up. Wisconsin is as drunk as society can be without being Soviet
union. So we have a bit of a problem here. Unfortunately,

It’s a pretty
interesting culture here in the state of Wisconsin. When alcohol gets mixed
with, really bad decisions with motor vehicles and yeah, that’s maybe that’s my
little, little soapbox for the day. As you know, the guy from the state has got
the drinking problem. Like kids don’t drink and drive and listen to the
podcast. Don’t drink and drive folks.

BHAVNEET: Oh, wow. I did not know that.

What would you say
is your third craziest driving experience?

ROBB: this one is the result of me being in a
car at the right place in the right time, , this happened just a couple of
years ago, actually, this was probably about three or four years back just
before the pandemic and my wife and I were driving down a road in, that same
grandma car, the 98 Avalon

it has since been
retired, unfortunately. But we are talking to each other. We’re probably four
blocks from home here. , in, in the small town I live. And there is a county
highway that intersects a nother more farm style road, one of those lesser,
paved roads but this county highway, , intersects this farm road.

 And it’s an uncontrolled intersection, but
rather it’s a two-way stop. So the county highway keeps going, but the cross
traffic does not stop. And we’re rolling up to this about, go about 30 miles an
hour, and all of a sudden we see a SUV from the stopped portion, pull into
traffic and get immediately T-boned by an oncoming vehicle it was one of those
slow motion things. Did that just happen? it was like a movie, it was really
surreal. now the interesting thing between reacting to this accident versus
drunk lady from last time was, , I spent a lot of, uh, my career in between
then and now in and around an industry, that deals with, things like
self-defense and , responding to emergencies and responding to stressful
situation.

So I had a
completely different skillset, , walking into the second accident. On the
outside, it looked far more severe than what it was the back axle of vehicle a
was torn off by a vehicle B and thrown halfway over vehicle, a, almost a
rolled, in the initial impact vehicle B the front was just smashed to a Bolivian,
but when I got out of my vehicle and took all of this training of, to my wife,
Katie, I need you to call 9 1 1.

Here’s where we
are. I’m going to go help white car. There is going to be somebody else helping
blue car, because there was another, person on the scene at the time. this is
where I’m going. you know, I took my, my trauma kits and I am walking up to
this, white, Jeep grand Cherokee.

And this thing is
just mauled. It’s just destroyed. And I am going through my head walking to
this, this emergency you can’t just like run up on it because you have to take
the time to process what’s going on. I’m going, this person is going to be in
really bad shape. Rob, you need to make sure that you follow.

Protocols making
sure that you’re not overstepping your bounds as a first responder, because
this person could be really, really hurt. I get to the side of the vehicle and
I wrench open the door and there’s a, a middle-aged woman sitting there she’s
dazed, but not a drop of blood.

I couldn’t believe
it. She’s like what the heck just happened to me. And you know, of course I
said, hi, I’m Rob, you’ve been in a a T-bone accident. I need you to reach and
turn your vehicle off so that we don’t have a fire. And she does that grabs her
keys and everything like that. And she’s in one piece, yeah, she’s hurting.

Like she’s been
hit with a couple of hammers the thing that I learned that day, was that
vehicles are really engineered to protect people nowadays. It’s really cool
because the aesthetics of this car were just unbelievably ruined.

This car could
have gone through a crusher and come out better looking, but she came out in
one piece without backache after smashing into a, basically a brick wall at 40
miles an hour. And that was, that was just wild. the neat thing about that was
the, the local police here in port Washington, where I live they were on the
scene within two minutes.

But, it was really
neat that day to see a bunch of people who we, none of us knew who got hit, but
as a result of that, the folks who respond. To the accident and we, we did it,
we got everybody out and home safe, which was a really a cool thing.

BHAVNEET: I’m so glad that they were not hurt.
They’re making cars so well now, like it obviously did its job. She was okay.
Cars will get destroyed. You can replace your car, but you, you can’t replace
it.

ROBB: right. Or pieces of you. And I should
add to this story that one thing that you should remember everyone is that if
you’re in an accident, grab your phone, grab your phone because he didn’t, it,
he felt terrible because they told her car away and she was sands a cell phone.

I mean, we
obviously got her connected with the people she needed to get connected with,
but, you’re an accident. Take phone.

BHAVNEET: When you’ve never been in one and you’re
in your first accident, you just don’t know what to do in that situation. You
don’t know what steps to take or what things to take or how to handle the
situation, especially since it is the first one. And I don’t think it’s taught
at all, when I got in my first, it wasn’t that bad, but I didn’t know what to
do. I was just like, I’m clueless.

 But speaking of other drivers and your crazy driving
stories, how would you describe other drivers either in their, you live or
different places that you have been.

ROBB: I love this. First there’s, there’s
something here and I’m sure this is for many Midwestern states. The term flat
Lander, , is a big one here. And we often refer to those folks who are just a
little bit oblivious and they’re driving darn flat Lander, you know, cert four
letter words here.

I know you said
this is a clean, clean podcast. There are things that we say, , but there’s
also a very special type of driver here in Wisconsin. And it’s, it’s an
invasive species And that is called the fib, And if you’ve never heard of that
before, , no matter where you’re from,, fib is an abbreviation for f-ing
Illinois.

 Bastard. that is the, the abbreviation there.
And, , if you know anything about the rivalry between Wisconsin and Illinois,
they don’t like us. We don’t like them. We have special term for them. I don’t
know if they have a special term for us, but there is a definite, , amount of folks
from Illinois who come to Wisconsin for summer leisure

 And you can just tell when somebody’s on the
Illinois plate, not just because they have military played, obviously, but they
are driving 15 miles an hour over the speed limit. , they are weaving in and
out of traffic because they just want to get somewhere.

And of course,
when you combine this with the slightly more laid back style of driving into
Wisconsin, maybe not quite flat Lander, but sort of somewhere in between flat
Lander and fib, , you get this. Real mess,

BHAVNEET: I didn’t know that there was such an
intense rivalry between the two states, but it’s funny how, you can tell who’s
from Illinois.

ROBB: Oh, totally. And you don’t eat again.
You don’t even have to see their, their license plate. It’s like that guy is
totally from Illinois. Yup. He is. It’s it’s bad. It’s really bad.

TARANJIT: That’s so interesting. We had so many
people who live in Illinois on the podcast before, and they’ve never mentioned
anything of that. That’s interesting that you’re saying that it also kind of
reminds me of, for us, it’s us, Maryland versus Pennsylvania. I feel like we
noticed when it’s a Pennsylvania road, you can

just notice.

ROBB: I’ve, been out that way too. And, and
the, I, I, I got a lot of Wisconsin vibes from Pennsylvania, so I have a
feeling it’s probably a very similar, relationship

BHAVNEET: So you’re saying Illinois. I hope we’re
not the Illinois. I wonder what someone from Pennsylvania.

thinks of Maryland
drivers.

ROBB: There’s the next guest find

somebody from
Pennsylvania.

BHAVNEET: Let’s dive a little bit more into you as
a driver. What would you say is your biggest driving pet peeve?

ROBB: I really hate when people linger in the
left lane, not going five over, like, I get that. You, you know, you don’t have
to go ultra. But if people are passing you on the right, you need to just get
over. I get that. If you are making effort, if you’re passing it in a big truck
or something like that, and you’re not doing that ultra fast, I can deal with
that.

We, we, we see the
progress bar on the truck, if you will, by passing it. it’s one of those things
where if you’re oblivious to what’s going on around you and you’re getting
passed on the right more than once. Like I can get that from, from folks to be
like, oh gosh, man, I am going too slow.

Let’s move over.
But if you’re consistently getting passed on the right, like that just burns
me, man.

TARANJIT: That’s hilarious. Here, if you are
driving in the left lane, which is, I think a common complaint of Maryland
drivers is we drive in the left lane like the slower people tend to drive in
the left lane, then the right lane and everyone passes on the right. And it’s
hard, when you are in that situation and you’re trying to move.

Right. And you
can’t because everyone is passing you on the right.

ROBB: Oh, my God, that might be my health.
That that might be my circle of hell. Oh my gosh.

BHAVNEET: we don’t have one of those like stay
right. Except a pass kind of laws

ROBB: interesting. Very interesting. The other
thing that really ticks me off is when people fly by disabled vehicles or
emergency vehicles that are responding to stuff too fast, like that is, that is
the one thing where it’s like, man is wish you had a rocket launch from the
side of my car. Could just nail that guy now who needs the emergency vehicle,

TARANJIT: yeah, just don’t come to Maryland

ROBB: I can realize that.

TARANJIT: all the time.

ROBB: Yeah, there is another place I drive
fairly frequently, too. And that is the, corridor between Tampa and Sarasota in
Fordham. My folks have a house down there, for the family and that, 30 miles
stretch of freeway, south of Tampa. And once you get across, sunshine Skyway
and down actually onto, Florida proper, not, not the, little peninsula that
Tampa is on with, you know, Clearwater and St.

Petersburg. Once
you get back down onto, the continental title flood. People are nuts on that
road. people going a hundred miles an hour. It’s like, what, what did you guys
do in workload? This is a four-lane highway. It everybody’s got a death wish
it’s like mad max man. It’s, it’s absolutely wild.

 I never enjoyed driving it. It’s always busy.
, it’s a great place to visit, but gosh, do I hate driving there?

BHAVNEET: Yeah. We’ve heard a lot about the
craziness that is Florida driving. So that’s why I said I don’t want to drive
it.

ROBB: Oh, it’s nuts.

TARANJIT: Switching gears a little bit, let’s go
back to your first time driving experience. I know it might’ve been awhile ago,
but how would you describe that experience and what was the test like for you?

ROBB: My test actually, I took it a ways away
from my home. We took it on like a, a family road trip at one point in time and
we just kind of stopped at Elkhorn, Wisconsin, just south of Milwaukee.

Cause it was at
the time they didn’t have the ability to online schedule driving tests or it
was really rudimentary and there was a shortage at the time. So we went down,
took this test and I almost had a perfect driver’s test and almost had a
perfect driver’s test because I aced everything on the test.

And the one thing
I did not do, the only point they documented down on this entire test, . Was
not putting a blinker on when turning into the parking space at the end of the
test at the DMV.

BHAVNEET: Oh, no.

ROBB: Oh, it was so frustrating. It was so
froze because it was, it was the part, it was the perfect test. It was the
perfect driver’s test. And the instructor goes, you know, you had a perfect
test. Right. And I said, yeah, I really didn’t want to mark you down on the
blinker, but I had to,

BHAVNEET: it’s one of those things where like you
make it. To the DMV and you’re like, I’m done. Whew, relax. And then you park
and they’re like, what was the sign you just passed? It’s like what I’m done.

ROBB: was it that you just don’t ask me that
we’re done?

TARANJIT: Switching gears again a little bit,
let’s talk about the future of driving. What are your thoughts on getting in a
self-driving car? And is this something that you would be interested in?

ROBB: I’m really split on this. I liked the
idea of if cruise control would watch out for stuff around me, that would be
awesome. If I could, reliably take my hands off the wheel and just, you know,
focus on the ride and be able to, you know, grab back on instantly.

I’m S I’m I’m okay
with that. I think a self-driving car for freeway distances, things like that,
you should be able to take a nap. I really don’t. I think that’s a terrible
idea, but to make things a little bit more enjoyable for a dry. I can see, sort
of an autopilot, much like planes use, you know, the captains there for take
offs, landings, and problems.

Basically. I can
see that being really useful. That’d be something I’d be interested in.
Something that concerns me a little bit about the way that cars have been going
lately is, they have screens, big ones, and that seems really distracting, to
myself even, even nowadays, when you’re dealing with some of those, maybe just,
four by four or five by four, you know, when I initially started driving, my,
2012 car that I own, it was like, wow, that’s a really distracting display.

And I think that
there’s a big time, no-no there for, for auto manufacturers and for, for
drivers that there is, there is a huge distraction there. And I think that that
makes for things that are very unsafe. One of the other things that I think is
interesting with self-driving or, voice activated things.

 I hope that heavy machinery and other things
like that never goes voice activated because, slice of Tron 6,000 stop is not something
I’m going to be uttering when my arm is, you know, in that thing, up to a
soldier, you know, slides, that kind of thing.

BHAVNEET: Yeah. And I feel like every year that
they come out with a new car, The screen is just getting bigger and bigger and
bigger

in

ROBB: the new Teslas have like the 24 inch
monitor or something like that. Like, I think I’m on a 24 right now. And this
is looking like the screen that is in a Tesla

TARANJIT: Yeah. When you’re talking about voice
activation, some voice activation systems don’t even understand what you’re
saying. So imagine if that was the case and you’re like trying to tell it to do
just won’t.

ROBB: and you can’t really articulate it well,
because it has your army pH student or something like that. Man, this kid, my
Alexa thing, can’t get my grocery list. Right. I always leave the, the
misspelled stuff on there for my, my other hat. What is red pudding? did you
mean bread pudding?

You know,

BHAVNEET: I was like, oh, red pudding. I found
some.

Bonus question
time.

If you could make
one, a new driving law, what was it?

ROBB: At the risk of sounding ageist. I would
want folks to be tested for driving more than once during their life and with
increasing frequency as people age only because the woman that owned that 98
Avalon my own grandmother was a menace on the road. As she aged Jane Conlon
should not have been driving after about age 72.

However, she drove
until about 87, this case, and that car had some of the battle scars to prove
that James would not have been driving I think more testing of folks, skills
throughout their lives. And, you know, they, they may have developed bad habits
over 10 or 15 years. I don’t know what the magic number is to retest people at
that is not a burden on the privilege of driving

because when you
mandate testing, or mandate a license, it’s generally a tax on the poor and I’d
like to be, aware of and considerate of that. And also. Driving is a thing of
freedom driving is so delightfully American in that it is truly a freedom
thing. And I think when you approach the older generations about perhaps taking
away that freedom, I think it’s a very slippery slope on that.

I do still think
it would be tremendously important for us. And even at age 36 here, it would
probably be good for me to have a driver retest. I know that there was one or
two things over the course of my life that my folks had to stop me when I was a
younger guy and be like, you know, you’re doing that wrong.

A that’s illegal
and B you’re going to get killed.

TARANJIT: You’re actually not the first one to say
that we have so many guests say should be thing. Yeah.

Well, we’re coming
close to the end of our episode. Do you have any final thoughts or any tips
that you would like to give other than.

ROBB: I’ll give you the one, the best piece of
advice that has saved me, countless accidents throughout my life. , literally
this has saved me 20 or 30 times minimum, it’s a piece of advice from my dad.
And he is, he has always told me that the road to disaster has many exits. Make
sure you take.

so What I mean by
that is if you are in a situation that you have an from, even if it puts you
behind schedule or whatever it might be in order to be a good driver, you take
that thing that gets you away from having a problem when you’re in your vehicle.

, there was a
phrase that I ran across and I’m sure it’s been mentioned on this show before
that good drivers miss their exits bad drivers. Never do. So make sure you
leave that room for you to make the mistake and leave that room for somebody
else to make a mistake.

And that you can
have time to recover from their mistake and find that. That out that exit,

the other thing my
dad always told me is always have an exit plan. If something is to happen to
you when you’re driving. And what that means is is that if you’re behind
somebody, you have to think at least three different ways that it thinks stop
dead in front of you, that you can get out and not. If you have three, chances
are one of them is going to be open.

It’s up to you to
pick that one. It’s the best piece of advice I’ve ever gotten.

TARANJIT: yeah. Sometimes in the moment when you
get advice from your parents, you’re just like, you know, you kind of brush it
off, but then when actually have the chance to use that advice, you’re like,
oh, I’m so glad they told me that

ROBB: Yes.

BHAVNEET: And it’s always important to have an
out, like you said, always have an escape plan, always look around and have
ways to go because people will stop randomly in front of you, especially on the
highway. Traffic just stops.

. Well, thank you
so much for coming on. It was really great talking to you before we let you go.
Where can our listeners find you if they want to connect with.

ROBB: best ways to probably connect with me.
Listeners is a number one through my own podcast. I run a show about helping
folks find jobs, we’ve actually been tremendously successful with that. My show
is called recruiting health, and it’s all about helping folks who are out of
work, find jobs, whether they’re looking for a new job or a better job. And
over the past two years, it’s helped secure more than $1.5 million in salaries
and benefits for people to listen to it.

 If you want to, you know, reach out to me a
little bit more personally, LinkedIn is my playground.

that’s where you’ll
find me Rob Kotlin LinkedIn, uh, Roberts.

BHAVNEET: Awesome. Thank you so much for coming
out. I have to say your podcast is amazing. I’ve listened to it and super
helpful.

ROBB: you are too kind, my friend you’re too
kind. By many turns. You thank you both.

 (transition music)

TARANJIT: Could you imagine witnessing a drunk driver, just go off the road or a T-bone accident? Like just seeing it in real life.

BHAVNEET: The craziest was a drunk lady, like just you’re driving it. Well, would she like 90 or something? And then all of a sudden, woo woo. The way 90 degrees just whoop into the ditch.

TARANJIT: Luckily it sounds like no one else was on the road.

So there was like, yeah, he stayed back. She kind of was just hurting herself, which is not good either, but luckily, no one else was hurt in the process.

BHAVNEET: But then, because she was so drunk, she didn’t really feel anything still not good, but no one was hurt in the making of this accident.

TARANJIT: What would you do if you saw that happening?

BHAVNEET: I don’t know what I would do. I think it’d be in shock. And then you, by that time, you would have been like a mile or two down the road. Like what just happened?

TARANJIT: Yeah, probably would’ve froze. I mean, both of the times I’ve had close encounters or actually the one time I did get hit, I just froze.

That would be me. I would see that happen. I just, just be like stopped on the road also.

BHAVNEET: Like he’s he left his keys there and was like, if anything happens, you drive away. And it’s like, so I don’t know if I would feel safe, approaching sad person. But like, you know, you can call someone and be like, oh, you know something here, you can deal with it.

TARANJIT: Yeah. Like Joseph said from like way back earlier this season, he was like, when you see something on the side road, just call 9 1 1 and let them know and let them handle it. Like, don’t try to get involved.

BHAVNEET: Especially if we don’t have any training whatsoever, like you don’t know what you’re, who you’re going to be approaching.

TARANJIT: , this actually reminded me of the accident we saw on the way to Virginia, not too long ago.

And how. I wasn’t really paying attention because you were driving and I just heard a bang and then I saw there was an accident in front of us. I didn’t see it happen.

BHAVNEET: I was driving and I didn’t really process that an accident had happened until you’re like, oh my God, an accident had. I heard the thump and then all of a sudden the person in front of me slammed the brakes.

So I quickly swerved into the left lane. Obviously I checked, there was nobody there. I sort of to the left lane and then hit the brakes. Cause there was someone in that lane to stopping, but they were a little bit further and I’m like, why did we just stop? we drive slowly by and we’re like, oh, someone’s.

TARANJIT: That just happened. That literally just happened.

BHAVNEET: And then like I saw the car that got hit. I saw them veer onto the sidewalk and then come back and I’m like, were they really trying to avoid something that they jumped the curb? But I didn’t realize it was an accident until you told me it was an accident.

My brain didn’t comprehend.

TARANJIT: Yeah. That was weird. It was intense. It happened in front of us.

BHAVNEET: Yeah, I didn’t really process until we drove by and the person’s airbag was deployed and we’re like, uh, That happened.

TARANJIT: That was crazy.

BHAVNEET: Well that was Rob’s crazy driving experiences. If you enjoyed this podcast, you can help support the show by sharing it with your friends or leaving us a review. It really does help us get discovered.

 And be sure to stay tuned until the end of this episode, to hear a sneak peek of next week’s episode with Vanessa from New York,

TARANJIT: Thank you for sharing your drive with us and we’ll see you all next week. 

(outro music)

 VANESSA: The person just arrived at the stop sign. So this person didn’t stop. They just slow down at the Senate. Speed up right behind me and slam their horn. And I just pulled over just to get away with the person, but the person actually stopped and rolled their window down and threw obscenities at me