Friday, January 02, 2015

The Art of Stopping When You're Supposed To

Just now I was standing on the front porch talking to Zak, and I saw not one, not two, but SIX cars blow the 4-way stop at the corner.  This is pretty normal for that intersection, was doesn't give me any degree of comfort when I think about all the times I am in that cross-walk - and indeed, I've nearly been hit by cars on several occasions when drivers couldn't be bothered to come to a complete stop and look around for pedestrians and other cars before proceeding.  Terrifying.

So, this gets me to pondering and wondering - what goes through the mind of a person who has reconciled within themselves the concept of completely disregarding cardinal rule number one in driving school, and who then treats a stop sign or flashing red light like it's a suggestion?  Do they think, "it's not a big deal, there isn't much traffic here, everybody does it..." and then never look back?

Forget the scary thought of colliding with another car and the headache that would bring - the mere idea of accidentally running down a person and leaving their tender body parts in disarray on the pavement completely terrifies me - so much so that I have to stop every single time.

SO with that thought in mind, I'm going to make a recommendation to everyone else out there casually driving your two-ton potential murder weapon through neighborhoods; unless Godzilla is hot on your ass, or there's a bomb in the car that will explode if you slow down, stop and look - every single time.

Thank you.

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