July 2, 2014

I wasn't planning on posting today, but I feel the need to express my feelings and opinions about something.

Be careful when driving!! Honestly, it really isn't that hard to drive safely.
I used to be a speed demon, going no less than ten over the speed limit.
I admit, if it wasn't for the condition my car is in, I still may. But I have slowed down on my driving and glad I did.

Today, one of my best friends was walking to work like she normally does. She waited until she had the right of way and the light to cross at the intersection, but when she did, a driver decided they needed to turn and rode her butt as she walked. When there was enough room for the car to continue on, the driver got the lead out.
THANKFULLY there was a sheriff that saw the whole thing and pulled that person over.

If a pedestrian has the right of way, let that person go!
Yeah, you may get impatient and mutter to yourself for that person to hurry up so that you can go...and I am guilty of feeling that way from time to time, but there is no place that you need to get to so fast that you can't wait just 30 seconds. It's better to wait 30 seconds or a minute or however long it takes for that person to cross than to hit that person and injure or kill them. I guarantee you it would cost more than just one minute of your time. It would cost you many minutes, much money in fines, and possibly jail time.

Also what happened today that made me really want to write this post was a fatal accident in front of my work.

I was on my way to my first delivery when I got stuck in a line of cars that couldn't get out because the accident was right in front of the drive. It took a bit, but when I was finally able to get on the road, I seen an older gentlemen on the road and they were giving him CPR. He had been a motorized wheelchair. I knew it couldn't be good if they were doing CPR.
When I got back from my delivery, I seen the ambulance just sitting in the parking lot with the lights off and the road (which is a major busy main street) taped off. I was able to get into the parking lot and into the store. One of my co-workers went to go find out what had happened and when he came back in, his face was grim.
A man in a big black truck was turning and hadn't seen the man and ran him completely over.
The man did stop at the scene, he didn't even try to leave, and he cooperated with the authorities. Eventually he did have to leave in a cop car, but they brought him back later on in the night.

This older gentleman. He was trying to cross a very busy street at rush hour without being at a crosswalk. I'm not blaming the old man at all...but he wasn't very smart in his choice of area to cross. Especially when there was a light and crosswalk just a block or so down, if that. He could have crossed in a safer manner there. I remember seeing him many times and from my experience with him, I have almost hit him on a few occasions and so has another co-worker of mine. He doesn't look before crossing when he doesn't have the right of way.

The guy in the truck. He should have double checked before turning. He should have been aware of all of his surroundings before continuing on. Just because there is no crosswalk there doesn't mean some pedestrians won't try to cross, just like the old gentleman tried.

I feel bad for both parties.
I don't like hearing about deaths, especially when they could have been avoided.
My prayers and thoughts are with the gentleman's family.
But my prayers and thoughts are with the man in the truck, as well.
I'm quite sure he did not intend to kill anybody today.
I can't imagine how anybody involved feels.

So the main focus of this post:

Pay attention to your surroundings while driving! 

That is something I even need help with doing, as I tend to become unfocused one way or another at times.