Today I almost killed someone. Don’t jump to conclusions – let me explain this. I stopped my car before a crosswalk, on a two lane road (each way). I wanted to let four people on the sidewalk cross the road. Simple right? Not exactly – the guy behind me got pissed off because I stopped, showed me two of his fingers, honked, and promptly passed me just as the people crossing were to step in front of his car. Luckily, they didn’t, but he didn’t slow down either. So after about 5 cars had gone by in the lane next to me, one finally stopped. So the people were now in the middle of the road, but were still blocking the guy next to me, but I left at that point. Since I was really doing a round the block U-turn (three rights make a left) I came back on the same road (heading the other way) and they were STILL THERE!!!! – waiting to cross the other two lanes. Now maybe they weren’t the aggressive sort of pedestrian (since you are sort of at weight a disadvantage) that really makes it look like they are about to step in front of you. This is how I usually do it – make like I’m going to step in front of them (even though I’m not). If they have a problem with this – its a CROSSWALK – and they’ll just have to deal with the 10 seconds of their life that will stand still. Maybe those people are still standing there, waiting to cross the road.
This is something that is getting really bad – nobody can cross the road anymore. Its as though I can almost kill someone by stopping for them, because frequently nobody else will in the oncoming lanes. I flash my lights, and I frequently get the finger from oncoming motorists, and not the little one.
I sort of got enraged at this today – I really wonder why drivers aren’t retested every so often. I personally would dislike the cost that I would have to bear by being retested every 5 years or so, but the thought that maybe this gets a few idiots off the road might be worth it. I have raised this point before. People whine and complain that they might lose their licenses if this happened : “I need my car to get to work” they whine. Sure – but if you can’t drive it well enough to pass the REALLY easy drivers test that people get then you don’t deserve the privilege.
–Its like coloring (and not much harder) – I don’t’ know why more people can’t stay between the damn lines.
–Slow down – YOU AREN”T A FIRE TRUCK! Today I saw a guy put his BMW on two wheels when he was taking a corner at SFU. This is the kind of person who kills others (This has already happened more than once recently at SFU).
–Don’t get pissed of with me just because I only go 10 over the speed limit. All the gesturing, honking and swearing isn’t going to make you get to class faster. In fact, this tends to make me slow down. HA!
–Red lights aren’t suggestions – some people feel the need to negotiate. There can’t be that many colorblind people can there?
— If you rear-end me, don’t pass me and then try to look for two adjacent parking spots in downtown Vancouver (Robson and Thurlow) on a Saturday afternoon before Christmas while I frantically attempt to follow you through the traffic. Why can’t smart people hit me?
You can call the police (hands free phone of course…) and say that there is a probable drunk driver in front of you on the road – but can you call them and say that the moron in front of you is weaving everywhere, bouncing off of curves, and going 30 in a 60 zone because they rather engrossed in their telephone conversation? It think you might get laughed at. This goes for other things too – I have seen people reading books, shaving etc. Once I even saw a guy with a plate on the dashboard above his speedometer – and he was eating from it with a fork (on the freeway no less). Once I was driving home from my college with someone who insisted on studying while they drove. What the hell is that? If you insist on weaving around while trying to read notes in your lap then you can take someone with you to hell other than me!
If we were subject to retesting every five years with a road test there would be a lot of complaining and whining. Really, there isn’t probably a politician with the balls to do it, BC’s Attorney General from the New Dumb, Dumber, Dumbest Party of BC (NDDDP) recently backed down on his call to make it illegal to drive while operating a hand held cell phone. I really doubt that anybody would have the guts to create/enforce a law that changed the Motor Vehicle Act in such a way to enact retesting every 5 years. Still, I think that it would be a good idea and if people cannot past such a rudimentary test – then they shouldn’t be licensed to drive a dangerous weapon around town either. When I took the drivers test I had lessons before – which basically taught me absolutely nothing. Seriously, my parents should have taken the money and thrown it in the river instead – it would have done more towards teaching me to drive than the lessons I took. The point here is that I EASILY passed the driving test – all I did wrong was that I parked too far away from the curb (2 centimeters too far). I have noticed that perhaps my vigilance on the road has waned over the years, and maybe I too could benefit from a retest. Hmmmm.