I've been a trucker for close to 15 years now.

This happened to me in 2017.

I was driving an overnight hall through the Mojave Desert in California,

headed for a destination in Arizona.

I think I was delivering appliances, I don't really remember.

It was pitch black darkness in every direction.

The headlights on my semi were really dim at the time, and I had been putting off getting

them fixed forever.

Usually I couldn't tell the difference, but since there were basically no other cars on the

road, it was much more obvious.

I remember having to strain my eyes every few minutes to make out the road in the distance.

That could have been a horror story in of itself.

I was debating, pulling over for a couple hours and waiting for sunrise, but I didn't

want to waste my time. I

desperately needed the money at the time, so I kept driving even though it wasn't fully

safe. I figured since it was basically a straight line it would be okay. I think it

was about an hour before sunrise when I saw something approaching fast in the distance.

Worried about hitting an animal, I slammed on the brakes.

As my truck screeched to a stop, I realized what was in front of me, a car with its hazards on.

The weird thing was that it was in the exact middle of the road, like literally on the double yellow.

What was even weirder was that the passenger door was wide open.

My truck stopped, maybe a foot, before hitting it.

...