was downtown yesterday, heading home, in the far left of three lanes of traffic. cruising thirty-five, the speed limit. i’m even with the rear tire of an suv in the center lane when the knucklehead (i don’t think i was that kind at the time) decides he needs to make a left turn. yes, a left turn from the center.
i quickly hit the brakes and move as far to the left as i can. i would have gotten up on the sidewalk if the curb wasn’t there. once i was out of harm’s way, i laid on the horn. looking directly at me through the driver’s side mirror, i see a surprised look on a guy with a cell phone jammed in his ear.
of course he finishes his left turn and keeps going. had i not been wrapped up in being thankful for not making any contact with said knucklehead, i probably would have followed him and given him an earful. of course i would have had to wait until he removed the cell phone from his ear.
the only thing i can hope is that he’s learned to take the cell phone out of his ear and pay attention to the primary task at hand – driving.
a couple things to consider:
- if you drive a cage, please pay attention to the environment around you – including motorcycles!!
if you can afford a car, a cell phone and a cell phone plan, can’t you invest a few more dollars for a bluetooth headset??based on this post…- if you ride a motorcycle, practice your quick stops – you can never be too good at quick stops.
- if you’re on a different bike (as i happened to be in this particular instance), take some time getting used to it…
sorry – don’t mean to be preachy, but…
ironically, as i was starting my journey home, i was following a mass transit bus. the bus number happened to be seven. as you may recall, seven is my lucky number. so i’m thinking about what may be in store for me. i think about playing the lottery, especially since i missed out earlier. but since i only have one number, i can’t really do that. i figure whatever it is, it will happen naturally. in hindsight, i think it was my butt not being wiped out!!
the problem isn't the holding of the phone to the ear, it's the holding of the conversation to the point of inattentiveness. two hands are just as dangerous as one in that case.
ReplyDeleteagreed - although with the extra hand, he would have been able to activate his signal to warn me he was going to attempt to wipe me out!!
ReplyDeleteon a serious note, i don't know what the answer is. having the extra hand in this situation wouldn't have helped. but I think purposely removing half your hands from actively participating in the immediate task at hand is unacceptable. especially with the plethora of bluetooth headsets available. maybe having both hands involved would engage his head a little more as well...