An elderly neighbour once told me how she could see the faces of German aircrew as they strafed Old Aberdeen in World War II.

She was a little girl struggling to shelter.

They blew the roof off my granite cottage while they were at it; it was the percussive effect of a multitude of explosions, apparently.

I wasn’t around at the time, honestly; the tell-tale signs of damage remain in a nearby graveyard to this day.

I thought of this again as I dodged among rush-hour traffic in Aberdeen and saw another driver’s face far too close for comfort.

I was on course to ram into their vehicle side-on.

What’s known as a particularly damaging “T-bone” collision into the side section of a car, where the driver is least protected by safety buffering in the vehicle’s frame.

Whiplash, spine and brain injuries – or even death – are more likely than in other collisions for occupants hit by such a sideways impact, even at speeds of 30mph.

It’s the type of collision you are likely to see at a junction or roundabout where someone pulls out from the side in the face of oncoming traffic.

I was entering a roundabout and accelerated moderately (but not excessively) to match other vehicles’........

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