A storm earlier in the day had knocked out power on the east side of town which meant the stoplights at all intersections were not working.
As I approached the first intersection, which is normally quite busy, I saw no police presence to direct traffic. Therefore, as is the usual procedure and I'm quite certain the law, I proceeded to treat the intersection and the next six I came to as four-way stops.
It became painfully obvious and at the same time horrifying that many people don't have a clue what they're supposed to do in this situation. The majority of drivers weren't following this procedure and were just flying past me in both directions. I was nearly hit from behind three times and almost broadsided twice. If we made it through the entire outage without an accident in town, I'd be amazed. Actually, I probably wouldn't be surprised since most of us are used to dealing with these same bad drivers every other day and always have our heads on a swivel.I've known for quite some time that the area is filled with some of the absolute worst drivers around. They either don't know the proper procedures when behind the wheel or just choose to disregard them. But this was reckless and dangerous behaviour and not a single member of our local OPP force was in sight to control the intersections or even ticket the offenders. At least if they're given a ticket and fined, they might learn something for next time...but I doubt it.
Every day I pull out of my driveway I feel like I'm putting my life at risk having to share the road with these impatient, law-breaking and clueless drivers. They'd be wise to pick up the latest edition of the drivers handbook and brush up on the rules of the road. Of course that would take time and obviously they're in too much of a hurry to get some place despite the number of lives they put in peril on the way.
(Also submitted to the local newspaper as a Letter to the Editor)
Considering the number of drivers that the police manage to catch, when they have their special drives set up, one has to think that this is only a small percentage of stupid things drivers do.
ReplyDeleteI suppose many drivers feel that they are almost invulnerable since the automakers try to make the vehicles as safe as possible to compensate for the many "accidents" caused by bad and reckless drivers. Yes, when you get out on the road you almost have to go out there with the attitude that there is probably someone out to get you.