Hearing about accidents makes me think just that much more about street obstacles that might effect me on the road. My friend was recently involved in a collision where as she was driving in the left lane of a 4 lane 2 way road, a lady parallel parked two lanes over to the right decides to bust a U-turn in the middle of the block. It's a high speed 40mph road. So as she's pulling out and crossing 2 lanes attempting to cross a double yellow line and pull a 180, my friend who obviously wouldn't expect the pure stupidity of the other driver broadsides her SUV.
Luckily my friend was in her family's mini van and not her typical old school compact car. What's worse is the driver who pulled out leaves the scene prematurely as the tow truck driver is moving her car. She said she had "other things she needs to do." Just just screwed over two cars and now has better things she needs to do? WTF?
Onto my list for the week:
1. Girl jaywalking across the street. She smiled out of guilt as she pulled back from the double yellow line after seeing me. Her friends laughed at her for almost getting run over by a scooter.
2. People roll through stop signs more often than they come to a complete stop. It's a bit expected. But on more than one occasion, lady drivers would practically go straight through the stop sign and as if they just realized what they've done 1/4 way through the intersection, they stop in a panic. Then they look around as if they don't know where they are. So far there haven't been any close calls since I typically wait for drivers to stop before proceeding through even 2-way stops.
3. I'm about to exit the bank onto a high traffic street. I sit back waiting for the light to turn red for the cars so I have a clear path. Just as the light turns red and I'm ready to come out onto the street, a mini van comes up behind me from the a driveway and barely sees me. He's too busy looking to his left to see me on his right. He finally sees me though and waves me to go by. No way. He's going first. I wave back and follow.
Being super careful has helped me avoid accidents so far not just on the scooter, but even as I get back in the car as a motorist. I'm a lot more aware of the roads now as a driver. Rather than focusing on what's in front of me, I'm constantly looking around and reevaluating every 5 seconds how the road situation changes.
Luckily my friend was in her family's mini van and not her typical old school compact car. What's worse is the driver who pulled out leaves the scene prematurely as the tow truck driver is moving her car. She said she had "other things she needs to do." Just just screwed over two cars and now has better things she needs to do? WTF?
Onto my list for the week:
1. Girl jaywalking across the street. She smiled out of guilt as she pulled back from the double yellow line after seeing me. Her friends laughed at her for almost getting run over by a scooter.
2. People roll through stop signs more often than they come to a complete stop. It's a bit expected. But on more than one occasion, lady drivers would practically go straight through the stop sign and as if they just realized what they've done 1/4 way through the intersection, they stop in a panic. Then they look around as if they don't know where they are. So far there haven't been any close calls since I typically wait for drivers to stop before proceeding through even 2-way stops.
3. I'm about to exit the bank onto a high traffic street. I sit back waiting for the light to turn red for the cars so I have a clear path. Just as the light turns red and I'm ready to come out onto the street, a mini van comes up behind me from the a driveway and barely sees me. He's too busy looking to his left to see me on his right. He finally sees me though and waves me to go by. No way. He's going first. I wave back and follow.
Being super careful has helped me avoid accidents so far not just on the scooter, but even as I get back in the car as a motorist. I'm a lot more aware of the roads now as a driver. Rather than focusing on what's in front of me, I'm constantly looking around and reevaluating every 5 seconds how the road situation changes.
No comments:
Post a Comment