Ellen Byron

Split-Second Decisions

A couple of months ago, I was driving to GotPrint in nearby Burbank to pick up yet another batch of my infamous swag. I reached an intersection where I faced the choice of going straight or making a right turn. As the light changed, I made the split-second decision to stay in my lane and continue driving straight ahead. I crossed the intersection and suddenly felt my car jolt as I heard that oh-so-awful sound of crunching metal – the sound coming from the side of my car. I’d been sideswiped by a senior citizen who miscalculated the distance he needed to pass a bus on his right.

The accident turned into a months-long pain in my keester. Adding insult to injury, I’d just spent about two grand having that side of the car repainted, thanks to some shoddy Honda paint jobs around 2015. (Apparently this was the case with both Toyotas and Hondas from that time period, and neither company is owning up to it.) Yes, the other driver’s insurance finally paid for the damage, but I was sans car for over a week, which is the Los Angeles version of hell. I kept reliving that split-second decision I made: If only I’d turned right instead of going straight.

An image of only part of the almost three-grand worth of damage.

In the sideswiped case, the split-second decision didn’t work in my favor. But in a different case, it probably saved my life.

When I was in high school, I joined my parents for a car ride from suburbia into Manhattan to visit friends of theirs. We stopped at a light near my high school, and I made the split-second decision to tell my parents I’d rather go to an event there. I hopped out of the car to the chagrin of Mom and Dad. I vividly remember doing this just as the light changed. A half hour later, one of my brothers came to the high school to tell me my parents had been in an accident. The car, a cheap Datsun (predecessor to Nissan) that had a tendency to skid, had done so on rainwater that pooled under an overpass. The car was totaled. When I saw it, I paled. The two doors in the backseat had cut into the bench to within feet of each other… exactly where I would have been sitting.

Recently I’ve been musing about how the concept of split decisions applies to my writing. I know I’ve had my characters make them, but I haven’t articulated their process. Frankly, until now I hadn’t thought about it. But based on my personal experience, I think there’s tension and suspense to be mined by taking a deeper dive into a character’s options and the split-second choices they make.

The roads of L.A. will always be a minefield of split-second decisions. I face them every day, on the part of other drivers as well as myself. My characters may be making more of them in the future, but I’m going to give a lot of thought to my decisions – especially behind the wheel!

Readers, can you share an example of a split-second decision that affected your own life or one of your characters?

36 thoughts on “Split-Second Decisions”

  1. Yikes, Ellen! Both of those episodes are scary. Thank the stars neither were worse.
    My favorite split decision comes from my final semester in high school. I get a call from a friend. He says, “Let’s do something crazy. Try out for the play.” My friend and I weren’t theater kids and had never been involved in our school’s theatrical productions.
    To make a long story short, I made the split decision to say yes and ended up being cast as Harold Hill in The Music Man. It was the high point of my high school career.

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  2. I can’t think right now of any split-second decisions I or my characters have made which ended up affecting any of our lives, but I do occasionally ponder this question when I’m out-and-about in the world. During a bike ride, I might think to myself: “What if my stopping to chat with that friend just now kept me from being hit by a car a minute later?”

    Do you all have thoughts like this, as well?

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    3. Leslie, yes! Yes! You know that saying about butterflies flapping their wings? I believe we’re connected that way. A kindness one does for another today could reverberate generations into the future. Okay. Back to changing my car oil. Not by myself

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  3. Being in L.A., I’ve definitely had split-decision driving (as have those around me). Thankfully, I’ve never been in any major accidents.

    A few positive split decisions have come when traveling. Like when we took our Alaska trip for funsies or how we camped in Zion, just hoping for an open spot & got an amazing site near the river.

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  4. Wow! Two very scary situations.

    I’m drawing a blank on any split second decisions at the moment, but I know I’ve had those situations crop up for me. And, as indecisive as I am, I dwell on them much longer than is healthy.

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  5. Whoa!! I wonder if your gut told you to get out of the car on purpose or if it was just a random act of guardian angels looking out for you. I would gladly take the LA sideswipe over the Manhattan near-miss!

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  6. When I retired from active duty in the Army in 2007, I wrote a novel and stuck it on the electronic shelf. Years later, on a Friday in the spring of 2018, I saw purely by chance a flyer for a MilSpeak Foundation “On Point Women Warriors Writing Workshop” that was starting with an icebreaker that evening. I called on a whim and asked if it was too late to sign up, and I spent the next two and a half days on the University of Tampa at the workshop led by the fabulous, generous, beautiful, incomparable Tracy Crow. That workshop marked the rebirth of that novel, Cry of the Heart, which was published in 2022. The decision to make that call really did change the course of my life.

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  7. The best split-second decision I ever made was to trust the man who I felt watching me take out my garbage in an apt. complex. I arrived alone in a busy city and started my new job. I felt someone watching me one day. I would see him time and time again with a Labrador. Finally, I decided to trust him and we started a conversation which lasted most of the evening sharing stories. I ended up marrying him and we have been together since 2001. I trusted and did a few things against my character based on intuition.

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    3. You’re right. Sometimes split decisions are the best. I got stood up by my then boyfriend and made the split decision to go to a bar by myself. I ended up falling in love at first sight with a guy there, who has now been my hubby for over twenty years.

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      1. Yes, I trusted my instincts. I had just come from a not so good ending relationship with a very handsome and charming Egyptian man. He was not all he portended to be. Thanks for responding.

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  8. Well, gosh. This is terrible, but I can’t think of a single split-second decision I’ve ever made. What does that say about me, sigh? Maybe I have made them and regretted them so much I’ve blacked them out?

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    1. You’re not alone; a lot of people can’t think of an example. And not all split decisions are disastrous. One saved my life, Cupcake met her husband, and Robin went to a workshop that led to her book being published.

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  9. Jimmy Kimmel had Larry David and Henry Gates Jr. both on the other night. Gates is the guy who does Finding Your Roots, the show that traces the DNA of the guests back many years. He pointed out that both Jimmy and Larry were there by a slim chance. An ancestor of each one happened to be away from the rest of the famiy when they all died or were killed. If those two trips hadn’t happened, neither Larry nor Jimmy would exist. It’s at about 3:30 on this YouTube. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1668493894362097

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  10. Wow! Split-second decisions!! Anything could happen! Yes, I did have such moments, sometimes it turned out better, other times, it’s the other way around…

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    1. Amazing stories, Ellen and others! My decision wasn’t made in a split second, but it was a huge leap off a cliff – when I decided back in 2013 that I had to quit the day job as a software technical writer so I coulld write mystery fiction full time. It was such a strong urge that it felt unavoidable, even though financially I wasn’t quite ready for that change. And it happened fast. But things worked out fine, by and by.

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