"Darwin Says Let Him Die"

[Kisa]

Bacon and cookies for title reference

I was driving down a side-street yesterday when I noticed a young child, about 2 years old playing at the foot of a driveway. He was really making me nervous because he would walk sloooowwwllyyy up towards the sidewalk....then RUSH DOWN TOWARDS THE STREET!!! Then sloooooowwwwlllyyyyyy back up towards the sidewalk....and RUNNING BACK TOWARDS THE STREET!!! I kept thinking he was going to continue into the street so I slammed on the breaks whenever he turned towards the street. After his 5th bluff charge, I felt fairly confident that he wasn't goint to jump in front of my car, so I proceeded to crawl forward at a safe 3mph. When I was maybe 4 feet in front of the driveway, he made another rush toward the street and this time continued INTO the street where he spun in circles squeeling in front of my bumper!!

I looked up towards the houses hoping to see a parent I could call out to but saw none. The best idea I had was to honk at the kid and hope that would get his attention and he would notice my car and move. So, I tapped the horn which got his attention...for 2 seconds. I called out to the kid. Nothing. Finally, I full on layed on the horn because at this point, he's been spinning in front of my car for about 3 minutes. His mother comes out of THE HOUSE gives ME a dirty look and turns BACK TOWARDS THE HOUSE WITHOUT HER KID!!! I honk again at her this time and she yells that I'm scaring her son. Really? He's still spinning and laughing lady....

Me: Well get him out of the road then!!!
Lady: *huffs and picks him up* HE'S ONLY A TODDLER! WHAT'S HE GONNA HURT?!!
Me: Him? Nothing. But any driver less patient or attentive would have run him over and kept going!
Lady: Don't say such mean things! *slams the door*

Ok fine. Would you prefer I let your son become road pizza?

[bhskittykatt]

What the....WTF?

I would seriously be considering an anonymous report to CPS because that's just...just WRONG!

[Raveni]

Too bad "delivering" the kid to them would be misunderstood as kidnapping.

[Kristev]

What a dumbbunny. Is she trying to lose her kid?

[Zellie Crescent]

What the....WTF?

I would seriously be considering an anonymous report to CPS because that's just...just WRONG!

I second that, when (not if sadly ) her kid does get hit by a car she'll spin it around so the driver is the irresponsible one not her.

[Pixilated]

What the....WTF?

I would seriously be considering an anonymous report to CPS because that's just...just WRONG!

DEFINITELY report her, anonymously or otherwise! If nothing else it will start a paper trail on her. Her kid is an accident victim waiting to happen and some poor schmuck in a vehicle is going to be traumatized for life because of this idiot!

[Kisa]

Sadly, I was not driving through my own neighborhood. It was one of those windy labyrinth type subdivisions with what I like to call cookie-cutter houses. I couldn't find that house again if my life depended on it Hell, I needed my GPS to get outta there!

[Seshat]

If you happen to be there again, get the number and street name of her house: the kid will get hurt, and it will likely end up blamed on a driver.

However, one or more police reports of near-misses from that house will protect the innocent driver - and hopefully enough of them will get the mother a nasty visit from police or CPS before the kid is hurt.

All that said: I'm not in the least surprised that you didn't get that info that time! I'm sure you were in shock.

[LillFilly]

That woman does not deserve children, hamsters or pet seamonkeys; no living creature should be in her care!

[Sakka]

Sadly, I was not driving through my own neighborhood. It was one of those windy labyrinth type subdivisions with what I like to call cookie-cutter houses. I couldn't find that house again if my life depended on it Hell, I needed my GPS to get outta there!

Depending on the GPS, you may be able to get the route information out of it.

I use my GPS whenever I have to do a service call, then at the end of the week connect it to my computer and copy everything. Very useful for doing my mileage reports.

[Mr Hero]

I honk again at her this time and she yells that I'm scaring her son. Really? He's still spinning and laughing lady....

First of all, Kisa, THANK YOU for being an attentive driver! This kind of hits home for me. Second of all, let the kid get scared. Maybe he'll be too scared to play in the road.

[Kisa]

Depending on the GPS, you may be able to get the route information out of it.

I use my GPS whenever I have to do a service call, then at the end of the week connect it to my computer and copy everything. Very useful for doing my mileage reports.

Sorry, I shoulda explained better. Most roads in Michigan are set up in such a way that if you miss your turn you can simply take the next turn and double back. I planned on doing this while trying to get to a Rally's and wound up turning into a windy maze like subdivision. I wound up getting pretty lost in there, especially after getting all shaken up like that, so I had to whip out my gps and use the map to find my way out. I never really punched anything in. I just went to the map and zoomed out...

[EricKei]

Well -- IIRC, some GPS's have either a "replay last route entered" (for routes you programmed in) or (I THINK) a "replay last route taken" feature, where it will replicate what you did on your last drive in real time. If that was the last route you used the GPS for, maybe it can look up the last route you took, and you can make a note of where the route marker stopped for a few minutes...?

[blas]

Not a child, but a teen or younger adult pulled that "chicken" shit game with me once.

Although, since it was someone older, I was actually going to make it look like I didn't care if I hit him after he played that game with me for more than a few fake-outs.