I offered to give a friend a ride back from the body shop. He was dropping his car off to have the annoying dents (his words) removed. On the way there, I made a left turn onto a street that had a stop sign for the oncoming vehicles. To make a short story shorter, we had a meeting of our left front fenders. For me it was a shock. Didn’t I see him? Where did he come from? Was it my fault? It wasn’t until I calmed down and relived the incident that I realized he probably didn’t stop for the stop sign and hit me. I thought at the time that I hit him and somehow didn’t see him. Guilt does that sometimes. A bystander whose name I didn’t get, told me he thought the other driver was trying to make a left turn between two turning cars and misjudged.
So it devolved into a he says-he says situation. The cop who wrote the report recorded the words of each of us. Fortunately, my insurance company accepted what was indisputable – I had right of way. The other guy had a stop sign. The result was that I was found not at fault.
But to continue, one of the problems where I live and drive is a preoccupation with speeding by the police. It’s as if the only thing that can do damage and/or kill you is speeding. I beg to differ with them. The speed limit is unnecessarily low on most streets. Going 35 where the speed limit is 25 isn’t likely to cause any problem especially on Sunday morning at 6 am when I’m going to the gym. But – and here are my complaints – not stopping at a stop sign, not using directional signals, backing out of a driveway without looking, inconsiderate use of high beams, driving slow in the left lane on a highway, walkers with their backs to traffic, cyclists or runners moving abreast, garbage pails in the street at night, huge piles of leaves in the street in the autumn. I don’t have the statistics but I’m willing to bet that speeding is near the bottom of the list. Now, I’m not talking about the 90 mph guy in a 55 mph zone who is a menace. I’m talking about the 35mph guy in a 25 zone.
In case you’re interested, I was not complaining because I got a speeding ticket. I didn’t and haven’t for quite some time. Enough said.