This afternoon as I sat at my desk—lets be honest. Everyone know I had nothing to do, so I was reading my book and checking for every update KSL could give me. As I was researching I noticed an article that said that SLC is the 6th most dangerous city in America to drive in. This was based on the UHP 2009 statistics on deaths and accidents.
Let me just say that I’m amazed that we were so low on their list!
Driving home tonight I noticed several instances where Darwin’s law of natural selection has failed me.
1. A young man was driving his motorcycle next to me on Highway 89. For those of you not familiar with this road it is a very busy industrial road connecting the downtown business center with the northern suburbs. I noticed that for a few seconds he let go of the handle bar. This scared me because it was rush hour, and the last thing I wanted to be involved in was an accident where the motorcyclist lost control of his bike and was run over by my jeep. I then noticed that he had pulled out his flip phone and appeared to be txting someone. He also wasn’t wearing a helmet. I don’t know how many terrible statistics one needs to read of motorcycle deaths before one says, “oh. I need to wear a helmet, and I should probably not txt people.”
2. The next one really wasn’t so bad, it was just more of an annoyance. A lady was stopped at the sign on the street I needed to cross. I did not have a stop sign. But I fortunately noticed that she was also txting. So I slowed down. Then when I was about thirty feet away she just pulled out right in front of me without even looking up from her phone.
I really don’t think that people understand the danger they put themselves in everyday when they get behind a wheel of a car. Cars are a dangerous thing—especially here in Salt lake.
Darwin, somehow you’ve failed me. Your law demands that the weaker and less able participants of a society die, yet somehow there are idiots all around me who somehow continue to be a problem for me. Fix that will you.
Oh my goodness! I think this every day! Literally, like every day! What a wonderful day it is to find your blog and realize I'm not alone! (My cold, hard heart melts just a little.) I have every intention of stalking your blog from here on out for more insightful insight and shared cold-heartedness. Also a desire for a McFlurry. . . if you post about food and make me fat like Jon did. . . ok I'm done. Glad you made it home safe on those crazy streets! Looking forward to more!
ReplyDeleteI see texting drivers ALL THE TIME! It infuriates me. I want to make a bumper sticker: "If you can read this, thanks for not texting."
ReplyDeleteThe helmet guy reminded me of what the great Jerry Seinfeld once said: "Why did we invent the helmet? Well, we were involved in a lot of activities that were cracking our heads. We assessed the situation. We chose not to avoid these activities, but decided to make little plastic hats so that we could continue our head-cracking lifestyles. The only thing dumber than the helmet is the helmet law, to protect the brain that is functioning so poorly it's not even trying to stop the cracking of the head that it's in."
ROFL. I TXT U NOW SRSLY WE NEED 2 TLK. LOL.
ReplyDeleteI love looking at motorcycles. Many of them are beautiful pieces of machinery. But I have two observations about them:
(1) There is a reason my father always called them "murdercycles."
(2) At anything over a low speed you do realize, don't you, that the helmet is wearing YOU for protection?