So *FURIOUS*

[Dragon_Dreamer]

Mods, please excuse my language, I am just utterly, utterly upset.

Today, my managers allowed me to train my first newbie on her first day. She was NOT the problem, she was wonderful. However, while she was at lunch...

Three young girls, who looked *barely* 16, and who informed me they weren't from around here, decided to BRAG to me about the pedestrians they'd nearly run over. "You shoulda seen the looks on their faces!"

I just GLARED at them, and quietly informed them that a, they could have killed someone, and b, that a friend of mine two months ago DIED around here by speeding on the local winding roads.

Their response? "But we just wanted to scare them! We didn't actually HURT them!"

What kind of idiot has "fun" by playing chicken with pedestrians!

*twitch* I swear, if they'd have been my kids, their hides would have been tanned, and I am NOT normally an advocate of spanking. I think these three redefine SC.

[chainedbarista]

*wonders if they'd find a resulting manslaughter/vehicular homicide charge just as funny.*

what in the HELL is wrong with people these days? joking about it is one thing, but going so far as to come close enough to actually do the deed? these kids need more than a hide tanning.

[Ljt09863]

i probably would have followed them out, and grabbed the licsense plate number, and called the cops.

[Tanasi]

Their response? "But we just wanted to scare them! We didn't actually HURT them!"

What kind of idiot has "fun" by playing chicken with pedestrians!

Cyg, I've heard this before, we were just trying to scare them and then it all went wrong. That's how folks get killed. I do believe in spanking, unfortunately it's too late for these kids. They either need to spend some time in the slam or their parents need to beat them within an inch of their life. Sooner or later they'll kill someone.

[Becks]

i probably would have followed them out, and grabbed the licsense plate number, and called the cops.

That's a great idea. I wonder if the cops would have done anything...

[Broomjockey]

It would be something like a reckless driving, or stunting, or driving without due care and attention charge. The problem is no direct witnesses. Never be able to track down those pedestrians, and a confession to a non-law enforcement person isn't exactly gonna get them thrown behind bars.

[Tito]

Too bad a cop did not overhear the conversation. I'm sure being handcuffed & brought downtown would have wiped the smiles off of their faces pretty quickly.

[Jester]

There is also the opposite side of that coin, which I have been seeing a lot of lately. That being people walking out into the street to cross it without bothering to see what is coming or how fast it is coming.

I am not talking about those who use a crosswalk and may not see one speeder, either. I am talking about people just not paying attention to what they are doing and just walking out into the street. Or worse, walking out in front of vehicles even though they see them, assuming said vehicles will stop.

Sorry, folks, but while automotive technology these days is great, it still not always easy to stop 3000 pounds of steel on a dime, especially if it is something that is sudden.

I cannot count the time I have leaned on my horn to alert these people that they are in my path, and all I get, usually, is dirtly looks and death glares, as I think to myself, "What? Are y'all trying to get yourselves killed by your stupidity?"

I am a good and careful and alert driver. After over 16 years of driving, I have been in two accidents, both caused by the other driver's inattentiveness. I have avoided countless others by my alertness. So...what is going to happen to these idiot pedestrians when someone less diligent than myself comes barreling along?

[marcus]

I'm still trying to figure out where you training a newbie comes into this story

[karma_gypsy]

I've seen/heard this too many times unfortunately, and being a pedestrian myself (quite often, in fact) I take all precautions when crossing a cross walk.

My husband, quite some years ago, was crossing at a crosswalk near the college. Hardly any cars in sight. When he was about halfway through the crosswalk, this girl in her car sped up on purpose, like she was "trying to scare him." He had to literally jump out of the way to avoid her car. She thought it was funny and laughed at him. He didn't have the time to get her license plate number (I think she turned a corner or somethin' like that). That was incredibly rude of her to do that . . .

And another story of a young schoolaged child getting hit by a car on while she was on a crosswalk walking home after school (this happened very close to the school as well). No one's fault really, child was crossing against the signal, car had a green light - didn't see the child (or saw too late). Child had broken leg but is otherwise ok.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

When my sister was in high school, she overheard some girls laughing that they had run over a cat on the way to school.

My sister got a striken look on her face, looked like she was going to cry, and said quietly, "That was my cat."

The girls quit laughing, and stared at her, horrified. A very long, very uncomfortable silence ensued while they stared at each other, the idiot girls clearly very, very ashamed.

Then my sister said, "Just kidding!" and laughed in way that suggested she was mocking their earlier laughter. But the girls didn't laugh back. They continued to look mortified. I think my sister got her point across.

I can't imagine thinking that's funny to do to an animal. Doing it to a person is criminal. Well, doing it to an animal is criminal, too, but you know what I mean. People who do this to animals I truly believe WOULD do it to people, if they thought they could get away with it.

[phillippbo]

There is also the opposite side of that coin, which I have been seeing a lot of lately. That being people walking out into the street to cross it without bothering to see what is coming or how fast it is coming.

I've seen a LOT of this lately myself. Somehow, over the years, the whole "pedestrian has the right of way" law has been interpreted by idiots to mean that they can do whatever they want, and if they get hit they can sue the other driver.

The absolute worst was when I was going to my local Wally World (actually, any time I go into this particular parking lot - I get especially mad at the parents with children in tow who don't bother to even look, which should be child endangerment), and a woman stepped out in front of me without even looking, meaning I had to hit the brakes really hard. (BTW, how hard do you think you have to hit the brakes to get the anti-lock to engage when you're only going 15 MPH? I can tell you pretty hard.) Anyway, she heard the noises my car made when trying to stop, threw her hand up in the air, and said something to the effect of "That's right, I KNOW you're going to stop for me!" Well, needless to say she started moving a lot quicker when I dropped the transmission into Neutral and revved the engine. (Don't worry, foot was still on the brake too - I'm not completely stupid.)

My grandma, the smartest person who ever lived, taught me that I should always assume that the driver of the car will not see me, and to imagine in a head-to-head fight who would win. Hmmm, err, umm, 3000+ pound automobile, 200 and something pound me. Weighing options, weighing options...

Besides, it's always better to be inconvenienced for a few seconds and get there in one piece, than to try to "beat" the traffic and end up at best in the hospital, and worst the funeral home. Why can't more people get that through their thick skulls?

[morgana]

people walking out into the street to cross it without bothering to see what is coming or how fast it is coming.

Got this on Saturday, as a matter of fact. Coming back into town from a visit to a campground; there's a StupidUV parked *in* the intersection of the road I was on and a county road crossing it. I'm on a two-lane paved road posted 45 mph, and this vehicle is parked blocking most of my lane. Two women are posting a sign, probably for a garage sale, in the grass at the side of the road. Okay, bad enough.

I get slowed down to about 20, there's nobody coming, I swerve into the other lane to pass the idiots' car, and presto! Around the front of the van comes a third idiot, right into my path. I missed her by probably 10 inches; if I'd been going one mile per hour faster than I was, I'd've killed her.

I shook for the rest of the 35 minute drive home. I'm shaking as I write this.

Gods, people are STUPID!!!

[Rapscallion]

People walking out and then looking? We had a rash of young mothers in our local town when I was doing the window cleaning thing who would stick their pushchairs (strollers?) out into the road and then look to see if anything was going to hit their baby. Caused us to lose quite a bit of tyre rubber.

I had a theory that they were using them in much the same way miners used pit canaries. If the baby survives, it's fine to cross.

Rapscallion

[MadMike]

I get especially mad at the parents with children in tow who don't bother to even look, which should be child endangerment

I've seen that a few times myself, and more often than not, the kid is looking, and knows the car is coming, and the parent is practically dragging him/her because the kid is scared out of his mind.

That's really sad when the kid has more sense than the parent.