If you’ve known me for any period of time you know that I
can’t stand cars. I’ve often railed against them and what they turn us into but
I think I’m wrong about them. Don’t get me
wrong, cars have plenty of bad qualities but I think the thing that is most
wrong about cars, are the people who drive them. With some people, it’s a case
of distraction either inside the car or out that causes them to have slow or no
reaction time and it’s getting worse with the number of toys that are available.
With others it’s a selfishness where they couldn’t care less about what goes on
outside of their vehicle. They notice things but they don’t care. Worst of all,
there are a lot of stupid people out there. I hate to be so blunt, but it’s
true. There are a lot of stupid people out there operating these machines that
could not only kill themselves but others. There are moments on the road where
common sense and intelligence can help and these people lack it. The ultimate flaw
that binds these 3 types of offenders is the lack of responsibility they
exhibit when operating their cars. That’s the bottom line. Owning and operating
a car is a responsibility many drivers are not up for, and it’s astonishing to
me considering how frequently we use them.
Anything we do daily we tend to take for granted. We get
up, we shower, brush our teeth, use the bathroom, eat and we drive. People do
it on auto-pilot more often than not while they listen to music, talk to
passengers or simply find themselves deep in thought. Back when I drove I’d
zone out sometimes too, but I tried as hard as I could to pay attention to the
road. I’d only put music on up to a certain volume. I always drove with both
hands and I followed the rules of the road. I’d usually drive the speed limit,
I’d stop at stop signs and I always signaled, whether it was turns or lane
changes. I tried to drive in a “textbook” manner because I felt like this was
the safest way to be. It turns out all this did was anger other drivers. People
were constantly getting upset with me for doing things by the book. I’d
constantly get beeped at for going too slow, being too deliberate and for
basically trying to do the right thing. It poisoned my experience. I started to
get mad at people who got mad at me… I mean, how dare you!
To make a long story short, I really began to detest
driving and I worked my life in such a way that I hardly would ever have to. I
thought that turning in my keys would relieve me of the anxiety and anger my
car had given me but it really didn’t. I still had to deal with other drivers
whether I was walking, biking or taking the Metro. In some ways it was worse
because I felt like when I was in my old car I at least had some level of
protection against other cars but once outside of it, I had little to none- a
fact I learned the hard way on December 7th 2007 when I was struck
crossing the street (at a red light) where I suffered numerous injuries
including the one that’s been the hardest to shake, the mental one.
Soon it’s going to be 7 years since that terrible day but
the images are still fresh in my mind. In fact so are the sounds, the smells and
the fear. I laid on the street less than 10 minutes before I was inside an
ambulance but it felt like an hour. Everything about the ordeal is fresh in my
memory, the car striking me, flying through the air, the thud on the street,
the cold wet Delaware Avenue, the painfully bumpy ride to the hospital, the
wait in line while strapped to the stretcher, the sounds of the doctors losing
a gunshot victim nearby in the ER, the pain when I tried to stand, the pain of
having a broken leg and a purple butt for several weeks, the sweat of rehabbing
my leg in time for spring football season- it’s still very clear. But more than
anything else I took from that day, I developed a deep paranoia of other
drivers. It has stayed with me and driven me to do some illogical and overly
cautious things- things like crossing a street before the corner so I only had
to be aware of 2 directions instead of 4. You’ll rarely see anyone take longer crossing
a street longer than I. I really wait until absolutely no cars are close, and
if it’s a light I will wait until every car is completely stopped before I take
a step across. Just because it’s red doesn’t mean I will trust you to stop. This
paranoia, while occasionally bordering on silliness, does serve me well from
time to time. Today I think it served someone else well.
I was walking into work this morning as I have been doing
of late with the beautiful weather and my increased energy. I usually take
Linwood Avenue most of the way. Linwood is clean and pretty quiet with many
beautiful brick homes that really appeal to me. I had headphones on because,
like I said it’s a quiet street so I just tune out and enjoy some music and I
march my way through a half hour walk.
As I approached West Utica I was lost in the sweet sounds
of Whitney Houston and was enjoying the air and sunshine. My spider-sense started
to tingle as I approached the clinic on the corner. The parking lot for the
clinic is behind it and the entrance/exit is a long driveway to the side of it
that cuts through the sidewalk and onto Linwood Avenue. All that is well and
good but what complicates matters is that along the entire side of the driveway
is a very tall and very dense line of bushes that leads right up to the
sidewalk. So if someone or something was travelling down that driveway they
wouldn’t be able to see if any traffic (foot, bike or car) was approaching until
they got just past the sidewalk. I’ve always thought that was a potentially dangerous
situation but who comes speeding out of a parking lot blind like that?
As I came within a few steps of that shrouded driveway I
slowed down. Even though I had headphones on the music was not loud enough to prevent
me from hearing a very fast moving vehicle recklessly tearing down that
driveway. I stopped in my tracks right before the sidewalk meets that driveway
and began to wait for this car to fly through. I was going to give them a “look”
as they passed for sure. I could hear
the vehicle was only a few feet away when something unfortunate happened. Out
the corner of my eye from my semi-turned head I could see a jogger fast approaching
and within a second of passing me and running right into the path of this fast
moving car. Neither could see the other. The jogger, like me, listening to
music but not like me, was running at full speed. The car obviously coming down
the driveway too fast and with that wall of bushes blocking their sight, they
would not see this guy until after impact. I had no time. Instinctively almost
as quickly as I saw him I threw my left arm out to attempt to stop this man as
I yelled WATCH OUT! With this man running at full speed my suddenly extended
arm did little to stop him. He ran through my arm but I did slow him down a
little. A little but unfortunately it wasn’t enough as the next thing I knew,
just 3 feet in front of me, the car, now revealed as an SUV struck this man
with a glancing blow but a blow strong enough to send him right to the ground.
For as fast and as reckless the driver had been, he did hit his brakes as fast
as he could. The jogger took quite a shot, basically taking the right headlight
and corner bumper right into his ribs. Miraculously, he hopped right up and
just stared at the driver. The driver looked back at him.
There was a man driving with what I assumed to be his
wife in the passenger side and a few kids in the back. The jogger started
shaking his head at the driver, almost in disbelief and I stared at everyone
waiting to see what was going to happen. The jogger didn’t appear to be hurt. He
picked up his phone which was shot about 6 feet away by the blast. No words
were said. The car just drove away. The jogger was making sure his gear was
still functional and in place. I shook my head. I asked; “Are you alright?” The
jogger replied; “Yeah, I’m good.” I couldn’t believe what I had just seen. “I’m
sorry I threw my arm out at you like that. I tried to stop you. ” I said with
all sincerity. “Don’t be” he said with a shake of his head; “If you didn’t slow
me down he might have really got me. One
more step and it could have been really bad, so thanks. ” And with that the
jogger took off. I stood there in disbelief.
He was right, one more step and instead of catching the
front corner of the SUV he would have been hit dead center. I was hit dead
center by that Oldsmobile in 07. Thankfully two things worked for me on that
day. The first was I never saw it coming so my body was limp and rubbery when I
was struck- that might have saved a few bones. The second was when she barreled
into me since she was driving a car and not a vehicle with a tall front like a
truck, van or SUV, my body just went right onto her hood which despite getting
through off of it when she slammed on her brakes was probably better than
having my body from the waist up slamming into something hard as well. One more
step. The thought gave me shivers. One more step and that guy could have been
killed. The car drove away like nothing
happened. The man jogged away like nothing happened. I finally crossed
the street, looking both ways several times overwhelmed by what just happened.
