I just watched a video on Yahoo of a driver who, instead of waiting for the school bus to move, drove down the sidewalk to get past. Yes, you read that right, drove down the sidewalk. To avoid waiting for the school bus. Apparently, this driver had done this before, the bus driver filmed it and showed the police. They set up a "sting" and caught her in the act. Bus driver: normally, having your phone out while driving a bus would be cause for alarm, but since you were obviuosly parked, I say Genius! Who would have thought to record such thoughtless behavior to show the police? Great thinking! To the police: Thank you for taking this bus driver seriously. And for hiding down the block and waiting to catch the offender. Great job! This is the kicker, though. The sidewalk driver is probably angry with both of you right now for messing up her morning. Probably mad at a lot of people. Probably mad at everybody in the world except the one person who is to blame. Herself.
We have become a nation of rude drivers. (Rude people, actually, but that's another story.) And it all boils down to one attitude: that where you are going is more important than where I am going. That stop sign or speed limit? Those are for everybody else, not you. You are important. You have places to be. You couldn't get your ass out of bed this morning and are going to be late for work. You don't have time to wait for that school bus, you have to go!
This particular school bus is apparently for kids with some different needs. The driver had to help the kid at this stop onto the bus because of a wheel chair. Is this going to take a little longer? I would assume so. But as my co-worker said "Why not just go around the block and avoid that part of the street altogether?" I realized there are quite a few simple solutions to this driver's problem. None of which involve sidewalk driving. Leave the house 5 minutes earlier. Leave the house 5 minutes later. Yes, adjust your route. Bring some coffee, and enjoy the wait time to drink it and prepare for your day. (In this case, maybe decaf. This one seems to have some jitter issues already.) Listen to Bob and Tom and enjoy a laugh while you wait. Ever hear of books on tape? Use the time to focus on how to stop being a self-centered bitch. Just a few, off the top of my head. But don't plow over pedestrians because the wheelchair ridden child takes too long to get on the bus! Have some compassion, people!
A few years back, a main road in our town had some construction going on. Lanes were closed, new stoplights were put up, new rules were put into play. The first was the "No Right Turn On Red" sign at the end of the highway exit ramp. There was a temporary wall up, and you couldn't see what was coming. As I was waiting for the light to turn green, the older woman behind me started beeping the horn furiously, making rude hand gestures. What? You're in a hurry to get home and wait for death? So I pointed to the sign and waited. She continued beeping. I wish I had thought of it, I would have put the car in park and walked back to her, as the light turned green, and given her a reading lesson. I'm not confrontational by nature, though. So I didn't come up with that one until I was already home. Too bad.
At another intersection with a stoplight, they actually had to put up huge orange signs saying "Do Not Block Intersection." I was amazed! They must not make signs that say "Don't be a dick." But again, when the light turned green and I didn't immediately pull forward to block the intersection, a different older lady showed her annoyance with her horn. I again pointed at the big ass sign, at which point I saw her in the rearview mirror calling me a "stupid bitch." Or maybe she was wearing "shoes that itch" or likes to eat "soup and pitch." But it looked a lot like "stupid bitch" to me. And to 6 year old "Leroy" in the back seat. It was that day I heard what may be my favorite words from this child.
"Mom, can I flip her off?"
"Well, dear, the correct question is 'May I flip her off?' And the answer is yes. Yes you may."
I don't know about everyone else, but when I'm in a new driving situation, I look for signs to tell me where to go. I also look to see what the other, more experienced people are doing. If a sign tells me to stay in line or pull here and wait or stop or not park here, I do what the sign tells me. If there is a line of cars waiting for the same thing I am, I go to the end of the line. Common sense, no? Apparently, no! Every day I see drivers go right when the sign says left, cut to the front of the line, block things they shouldn't block. (Parking spaces? Really? You think it's OK to pull sideways in front of multiple parked cars and get out of the car? They don't need to leave?) All because they are more important than me. I'm sure these are the same douchebags who take the full cart to the u-scan line. And show up 15 minutes late to every appointment they have every day. Although I'm sure that last one isn't their fault. You know, that bus was in the way and all.
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