I was going to label this "People Suck" but there are too many reasons and this doesn't even make a top 20 or 50 of why people suck, but it bothers me every time. When did people stop looking both ways before crossing a street and I am including places like outside a store where people walk and cars are driving by? Few people probably spend more time on their phones looking at stupid videos than me, but I will not do that out in public, you have to keep your wits about you and as I tell Mijo "keep your head on a swivel". Bad shit can happen to anyone at any second. Crossing the street without looking up and establishing some sort of eye contact with the drivers is asking for trouble.
I get that the walker has the right of way, and yes, if you get hit or run over, it would be the driver's fault, but who is going to sit in pain or worse, die on the ground? There is then a good chance the driver just floors it and disappears, especially with all the drivers running around without insurance or even licenses. I don't think the pedestrian has ever won in a collision against a vehicle, be it car, truck or SUV. Another thought to consider is that there is a chance the driver is also distracted, whether it's a parent arguing with a shitty kid in the backseat and they are reaching back there to whack them, or a driver headed to a party looking at Google Maps to make sure and head out the right way from the store.
I was leaving HEB yesterday morning after filling up tank with gas and then getting groceries. I was leaving the parking lot and it's a big place, I turned out into the main lane which goes past the front of the store and has a light to make it easy to jump out to Congress Avenue and then Slaughter Lane. Not that I was speeding, you really can't but just as I was starting to move past 5 mph, an idiot employee comes literally running in front of my truck with maybe 20-30 store carts to restock the front. Good for him for doing his job and for even hustling, but as he ran in front of me and I hit my brakes hard, he never even looked to either direction, he just rode the last cart he was pushing, it had enough momentum to keep rolling across the lane. Had I been distracted, I might have hit him.
As a matter of fact, I did hit a guy one time. We pulled into our condo one time in Florida and it was one of those mega sized places with guys that help you unload and direct traffic, so people all over the place where there are cars. This guy was directing traffic, I had driven like 23 hours straight and was mostly out of it. I guess I lost him between the huge rear-view mirrors of my Excursion and the A pillar (metal frame between windshield and door, and before I knew it, he was walking backwards and I was trying to curve my vehicle into the roofed area in front of the doorway and boop. I shoved him lightly with my rear-view mirror. I quickly realized, stopped and rolled the window down to apologize. I can still hear his Jamaican accent "you hit me, Mon." He kind of smiled and looked startled, I sincerely apologized, it scared me awake. It doesn't relate exactly to A-holes crossing the street, but it does show that sometimes drivers are distracted and even though it was my fault, it was the guy on the street that got pushed sideways.
No comments:
Post a Comment