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camwynIt is true, I was turning left as you were crossing the street. However, I did see you. I was turning left quite slowly, as traffic was a bit thick and the only reason I could turn was that a nice person in a black BMW had stopped to allow me that chance. I saw you as I started the turn, which is why I was turning slowly; at no point did I touch you, or even come close to you.
At least, not until after you had started yelling "whoa, whoa, whoa!" and glaring at me. And even then I did try to let you know I had seen you, and had been in the process of stopping. You were, after all, crossing the street from right to left; you were most of the way across the lane into which I had to place my car, so I assumed you would be out of it shortly. Therefore I was turning left slowly, and would have stopped if you had still been in that lane - or would have rolled through slowly if you kept moving.
But you insisted on yelling at me, and when I answered that I had seen you, you started screaming "Oh, you saw me? You SAW me?" and getting very angry indeed. I believe I called out that I would have stopped, but you were starting to scare me. I had my driver's side window open and did not wish to find out exactly how scary you were, so I kept rolling rather than trying to explain or answer or defend myself. The fact that you slammed your hand down on the roof of my car hard enough for me to feel as I went past did absolutely nothing for my impression of you as a human being who was safe enough to shout an explanation to.
I freely admit that on the remaining half-mile of the journey home I got sufficiently angry and upset at you that I randomly slammed on my brakes, but I made sure that no one was in front of me, behind me, or anywhere near me first. I did it for but a moment, and I did it alone. I put no one in danger and did not act aggressively towards anyone by so doing, and I felt guilty immediately afterwards. I drove the rest of the way home with a willful, concentrated effort at remaining calm and aware of my surroundings.
I hope you enjoyed your moment of pedestrian road rage, because you scared the hell out of me. For your sake I hope you never have to walk anywhere in Manhattan.
At least, not until after you had started yelling "whoa, whoa, whoa!" and glaring at me. And even then I did try to let you know I had seen you, and had been in the process of stopping. You were, after all, crossing the street from right to left; you were most of the way across the lane into which I had to place my car, so I assumed you would be out of it shortly. Therefore I was turning left slowly, and would have stopped if you had still been in that lane - or would have rolled through slowly if you kept moving.
But you insisted on yelling at me, and when I answered that I had seen you, you started screaming "Oh, you saw me? You SAW me?" and getting very angry indeed. I believe I called out that I would have stopped, but you were starting to scare me. I had my driver's side window open and did not wish to find out exactly how scary you were, so I kept rolling rather than trying to explain or answer or defend myself. The fact that you slammed your hand down on the roof of my car hard enough for me to feel as I went past did absolutely nothing for my impression of you as a human being who was safe enough to shout an explanation to.
I freely admit that on the remaining half-mile of the journey home I got sufficiently angry and upset at you that I randomly slammed on my brakes, but I made sure that no one was in front of me, behind me, or anywhere near me first. I did it for but a moment, and I did it alone. I put no one in danger and did not act aggressively towards anyone by so doing, and I felt guilty immediately afterwards. I drove the rest of the way home with a willful, concentrated effort at remaining calm and aware of my surroundings.
I hope you enjoyed your moment of pedestrian road rage, because you scared the hell out of me. For your sake I hope you never have to walk anywhere in Manhattan.
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Date: 2003-07-20 08:06 pm (UTC)Moron.
We were having a discussion of that particular law while driving in Berekely one fine summer afternoon. Then we turned a corner and hit someone who was unaware of it's existence.
Again, moron.
Thank you for not killing the idiot...I guess. While it would have been satisfying to clear an undesirable from the gene pool, the repercussions would probably have been resoundingly negative.
-M