Tuesday, April 15, 2008

With whom do we share the road?

An actual letter to the editor from the Columbus Dispatch

This is a letter to the car full of teenagers (and others just like you) that ran right through a stop sign in front of the Mall at Tuttle Crossing and laughed like idiots when I almost ran into you. Yes, isn't it funny that you could have ended up dead! Yes, isn't it funny that I could have destroyed my vehicle! Personally, I don't care what happens to you, but I certainly don't intend on ruining my vehicle that is worth more than any of you will ever earn in your lifetime. Nor do I want to waste my time waiting for emergency personnel to arrive and pronounce you dead. By judging from your actions and obvious inability to read street signs, my guess is that you did not complete the 8th grade and are probably not a decent contributing member of society, so please get your parole officer to read this letter to you! Next time, maybe I won't be able to stop my vehicle in time, or maybe I won't even try.

My suggestions to everyone, LEARN HOW TO READ, be sure to STOP at Stop signs, and DON'T STOP when there aren't any stop signs. How difficult is that?

Diana Momeyer, Columbus

I have been debating about posting this since I saw it on Tuesday. My goal here is to convince people to ride a bike, not scare them away from it. Honestly, this is scary. I do not condone kids not paying attention while driving. But this lady cares more about her car than a group of teenagers. Read it again, "I don't care what happens to you, but I certainly don't intend on ruining my vehicle that is worth more than any of you will ever earn in your lifetime. " If that isn't unsettling enough, "Next time, maybe I won't be able to stop my vehicle in time, or maybe I won't even try." So, I guess a suitable punishment for running a stop sign is ramming another person's car.

How would you like to have her behind you while you are on a bicycle?

When I was learning to drive, my grandfather used to say, "There are three types of drivers on the road, idiots who drive slower than you, maniacs who drive faster than you, and the perfect driver, you."

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3 comments:

Jamie said...

This is scary, and the worst part is that she's not alone. The other scary thing is that there are groups of teenagers out there who do things like the action that provoked this driver to write that letter to the editor.

It all goes back to my constant soapboxing about traffic laws being ignored, but perhaps what we need is an increase in punishment for traffic violations. Speeding ticket? Lose your license for a month. That's at least a fair assessment of punishment for not caring enough about your fellow man to travel at a reasonable speed.

Smudgemo said...

So George Carlin is your grandfather?

Awesome.

Rick Logue said...

Two mea culpas in two days. I feel like a presidential candidate.

I really thought it was grandfatherly advice like "Even dogs are smart enough not to shit where they live" or "The man who eats while his neighbor is hungry is truly hungry." You know, those weird pieces of advice that grandfathers say that everyone hears year after year?