The other day one of the cable news channels talking heads asked, "What is the single worst thing you have personally observed a driver doing behind the wheel?"
Wow, does that ever open up the window of opportunity. It is really difficult to narrow it down to just one thing. Drinking scalding hot coffee? Putting on make-up? Brushing hair? Texting? Talking on the cell phone? Reaching over to retrieve a cell phone, pack of cigarettes, whatever? Huh? What?
No. None of the above. All are bad. All are just plain stupid. But not the worst.
No. The very worst I have ever seen was the guy driving on I-64 reading, yes, reading a newspaper. He had it propped up on the steering wheel and was reading. I couldn't believe it. This happened about fifteen or twenty years ago. He was traveling below the speed limit, wandering all over the road, and seemed totally oblivious to the fact that there were probably thirty or forty vehicles behind him, afraid to try to pass him, or just fearing that he was, sooner or later, going to hit the median or the berm of the road, lose control (What, did he have it under control anyway?) and harm himself or someone else. Stupid.
One day a few years ago, I was in a funeral procession and was approaching Farmdale Road on Route 60, eastbound to White Chapel. The procession was tightly bunched, in the center lane and had started under the light. I glance over into the right lane and here was a SWT, business type, sucking on a cigarette, drinking a cup of something, and talking on her cell phone. Without a signal, she pulled right in front of me, forcing me to stop, as she did, abruptly, when she realized that the light was red. Normally, I just let it go with a loud scream in such situations. But this time I just couldn't believe that anyone would be so crasss as to stop a funeral procession.
So I shut the engine off, got out and approached her window. It took a moment to get her attention, but finally she rolled it down, and asked so sweetly, "What?" I proceeded to enlighten her about the dangers of driving distractedly and then mentioned that she had was in the center of a funeral procession. No apology, no nothing, except rolling rolling the window back up. Airhead. Stupid.
You can't fix stupid. Ignorance can be educated, but stupid cannot.
With all the advertising devoted to distracted driving, there is not one single driver out there who has not heard the news, it is stupid, and against the law to do so, but they still do it. People honk at me all the time because I will not proceed from a red light into the intersection until I have looked to make sure no vehicle is going to run the red light. So, let 'em honk.
Wow, does that ever open up the window of opportunity. It is really difficult to narrow it down to just one thing. Drinking scalding hot coffee? Putting on make-up? Brushing hair? Texting? Talking on the cell phone? Reaching over to retrieve a cell phone, pack of cigarettes, whatever? Huh? What?
No. None of the above. All are bad. All are just plain stupid. But not the worst.
No. The very worst I have ever seen was the guy driving on I-64 reading, yes, reading a newspaper. He had it propped up on the steering wheel and was reading. I couldn't believe it. This happened about fifteen or twenty years ago. He was traveling below the speed limit, wandering all over the road, and seemed totally oblivious to the fact that there were probably thirty or forty vehicles behind him, afraid to try to pass him, or just fearing that he was, sooner or later, going to hit the median or the berm of the road, lose control (What, did he have it under control anyway?) and harm himself or someone else. Stupid.
One day a few years ago, I was in a funeral procession and was approaching Farmdale Road on Route 60, eastbound to White Chapel. The procession was tightly bunched, in the center lane and had started under the light. I glance over into the right lane and here was a SWT, business type, sucking on a cigarette, drinking a cup of something, and talking on her cell phone. Without a signal, she pulled right in front of me, forcing me to stop, as she did, abruptly, when she realized that the light was red. Normally, I just let it go with a loud scream in such situations. But this time I just couldn't believe that anyone would be so crasss as to stop a funeral procession.
So I shut the engine off, got out and approached her window. It took a moment to get her attention, but finally she rolled it down, and asked so sweetly, "What?" I proceeded to enlighten her about the dangers of driving distractedly and then mentioned that she had was in the center of a funeral procession. No apology, no nothing, except rolling rolling the window back up. Airhead. Stupid.
You can't fix stupid. Ignorance can be educated, but stupid cannot.
With all the advertising devoted to distracted driving, there is not one single driver out there who has not heard the news, it is stupid, and against the law to do so, but they still do it. People honk at me all the time because I will not proceed from a red light into the intersection until I have looked to make sure no vehicle is going to run the red light. So, let 'em honk.
posted by tanstaafl | 10:21 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home