Ok, people, this is getting ridiculous.
When you get in your car, as the driver, you are behind the
wheel of a vehicle, yes, but also a weapon. Thousands of pounds of force, aimed
wherever you want to make it go. Or wherever you make it go.
And there’s can be a decidedly deadly difference between the
two if you’re not paying attention.
And why are you not paying attention, by the way? You are
driving a car. That’s your one job when you’re the driver. It’s your
responsibility to maneuver that thing safely. You cannot do that if you are
busy texting or checking your Twitter feed or sending an email or reading an
email or taking a selfie or doing anything at all on your cell phone.
If your eyes are on your phone, they are not on the road.
Period. No excuses. No ifs, ands or buts. You are either watching the road or
you are not watching the road.
Here’s a sampling of what I’ve seen in the last week as I
have started actively watching what is going on in other cars (I did these
observations as a passenger and as a runner, so I am not spying on others at
the expense of watching the road, just FYI):
•a man who was in the left-turn only lane, not seemingly
paying any attention to the oncoming traffic because he was texting; I actually
stopped my run to see how long he stayed in that lane, letting his left-turn
opportunities pass by one after another; he stayed there through at least five
left-turn opportunities. He was darn lucky there was no one waiting behind him.
I finally just kept running. Now, yes, kudos to him for not texting while he
was moving, but then again texting while you are in a dedicated left turn lane
and are supposed to actually take that left turn when the opportunity arises is
not exactly exemplary behavior. He was literally texting in the middle of the
road, with cars zooming by him on either side.
•a woman full-on texting as she drove 45 mph (45 MILES PER
HOUR!) down a busy four-lane street. She wasn’t even trying to hide it. Her
head was going up and down so much she was going to give herself whiplash.
•a woman directly in front of me at a stoplight so absorbed
in whatever was on her phone screen that she completely missed the light. I did
honk (I don’t like to honk generally), but the light changed, and there we sat.
•as I was on a run I saw this: there was a line of cars
stopped at the red light. The woman in the front car had her head down,
obviously doing something on her cell. The light changed. Still texting. The
two lanes next to her go. She still sat there, head down, not moving. The car
behind her honked. Twice. She didn’t notice. I was running right next to her at
that point, so I stopped and waved my arms to get her attention. I startled her
and she looked at me questioningly until she saw me pointing to the light. She
mouthed “thank you” and started driving. You’re welcome.
Also, if I might, I would like to remind some of you out
there that there are, in fact, actual driving rules. Laws, one might call them.
You should know them. You should obey them. They are there for a reason.
Here’s one, just as a reminder: when you are taking a right
on red, you DO NOT have the right of way over the pedestrian who is crossing
the street with that flashing, beeping WALK sign that you are not paying any
attention to because you are running late and are too impatient to be bothered with
looking left and then right and then left again before you turn.
Just for ducks, let’s say that pedestrian trying to cross
the street legally is me, because frankly I’m starting to take the number of
times I have almost been hit by a car personally. Theoretically, I would press
the “cross” button, wait for the “WALK” sign, and then proceed. And then I
would die if I stepped into the street. Because almost no one looks for
pedestrians when they’re turning right on red. I don’t know what they think the
giant painted white lines are for, but clearly they are not going to provide a
protected space in which to walk (as they are intended) if drivers just plow
through them as they try to beat that car coming down the street. Yes, driver,
that’s a great idea--you, who are at a dead stop, should TOTALLY gun it through
the light and try to beat that car coming toward you at 50 mph. I’m sure you
have a terrific air bag system. That’ll help you. Maybe. But it won’t help me.
Because I’m guessing you don’t have airbags under your car, which is where I’ll
be.
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