So how was your evening?
Jul. 1st, 2007 10:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
theweaselkingI nearly killed a man tonight - and if I had, I, my wife, our passenger, and a number of other people might *also* be dead in the immediate aftereffects.
I will preface this story by saying we're all fine. All of us, even the guy I literally nearly killed, and, after that, dearly wanted to kill.
It's Canada Day. People are drunk and stupid - I saw four serious accidents between my parents home and my own, and at least two more accidents waiting to happen and people doing dangerous things - other than this one.
The Asshole That Walks, henceforth referred to simply as "Asshole", was presumably quite drunk. I, being a driver, was quite sober.
This saved his life when he jumped out in front of my car, while I was going about 70, at the corner Bronson and Third Avenue. This also saved me and the person in the lane to my left, and the people behind us both, from a serious accident when I slammed on the brakes and swerved around him *without* getting over too far into the next lane.
As I pulled most of the way into a driveway, hit the 4-ways, and dialled 911, he came running up to the car, yanked open the passenger-side door, and started screaming at my wife in the seat there. She tells me he was saying "What's wrong?" and "What did I do?" - neglecting, of course, that he can't have known my sudden stopping had to do with him if he really was innocent.
She pulled the door closed, and I locked the car doors and windows as our passenger in the back seat yanked out his phone and started snapping pictures. Asshole ran away, at that point, as I was explaining all this to the nice 911 officer - who, for bonus points, asked *me* "Is he wearing a red Canada shirt and blue jeans?" when I said the guy had jumped in front of my car and was now attempting to get into my vehicle because I'd stopped to call 911. Apparently I was their third or fourth 911 call about this guy.
For extra bonus points, Asshole ran... back to the corner of Bronson and Third, to where his friends were standing. In plain sight of us. He then sprinted off down Third Avenue (which I reported to the police) and then... came back and stood in front of the building with his two friends, apparently trying to talk some little old lady into letting them in.
We told the cops that, too.
Having been assured that we were fine, just a little shook up, the police took my contact information and told me to continue on and go home, which I did, completely forgetting that I was supposed to make a different turn to let my passenger out *and* arriving in my parking spot at exactly the time the fireworks started - meaning the first "BANG" meant I was certain I'd just hit the wall.
The worst part is that, thinking about it, if I'd hit him I *know* exactly what my reaction would have been: Slam on the brakes, stop the car, hit the flashers, my seatbelt, and my door in that order with the left hand while my right pulled my phone and dialled 911. I would then have flung my door open and stepped out.
Into the northbound lane of Bronson Avenue, at night, where the traffic speeds by at 70.
I will preface this story by saying we're all fine. All of us, even the guy I literally nearly killed, and, after that, dearly wanted to kill.
It's Canada Day. People are drunk and stupid - I saw four serious accidents between my parents home and my own, and at least two more accidents waiting to happen and people doing dangerous things - other than this one.
The Asshole That Walks, henceforth referred to simply as "Asshole", was presumably quite drunk. I, being a driver, was quite sober.
This saved his life when he jumped out in front of my car, while I was going about 70, at the corner Bronson and Third Avenue. This also saved me and the person in the lane to my left, and the people behind us both, from a serious accident when I slammed on the brakes and swerved around him *without* getting over too far into the next lane.
As I pulled most of the way into a driveway, hit the 4-ways, and dialled 911, he came running up to the car, yanked open the passenger-side door, and started screaming at my wife in the seat there. She tells me he was saying "What's wrong?" and "What did I do?" - neglecting, of course, that he can't have known my sudden stopping had to do with him if he really was innocent.
She pulled the door closed, and I locked the car doors and windows as our passenger in the back seat yanked out his phone and started snapping pictures. Asshole ran away, at that point, as I was explaining all this to the nice 911 officer - who, for bonus points, asked *me* "Is he wearing a red Canada shirt and blue jeans?" when I said the guy had jumped in front of my car and was now attempting to get into my vehicle because I'd stopped to call 911. Apparently I was their third or fourth 911 call about this guy.
For extra bonus points, Asshole ran... back to the corner of Bronson and Third, to where his friends were standing. In plain sight of us. He then sprinted off down Third Avenue (which I reported to the police) and then... came back and stood in front of the building with his two friends, apparently trying to talk some little old lady into letting them in.
We told the cops that, too.
Having been assured that we were fine, just a little shook up, the police took my contact information and told me to continue on and go home, which I did, completely forgetting that I was supposed to make a different turn to let my passenger out *and* arriving in my parking spot at exactly the time the fireworks started - meaning the first "BANG" meant I was certain I'd just hit the wall.
The worst part is that, thinking about it, if I'd hit him I *know* exactly what my reaction would have been: Slam on the brakes, stop the car, hit the flashers, my seatbelt, and my door in that order with the left hand while my right pulled my phone and dialled 911. I would then have flung my door open and stepped out.
Into the northbound lane of Bronson Avenue, at night, where the traffic speeds by at 70.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-02 03:06 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-02 03:35 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-02 04:05 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-02 04:34 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-02 06:39 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-02 01:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-02 08:30 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-02 12:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-02 10:21 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-02 12:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-02 01:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-02 01:45 pm (UTC)We, being from the part of the world that is not the USA and is not Borneo, use a sensible system of distance measurement. This means, by extension, that we use a sensible system of *speed* measurement, too.
So "70" is "70 kilometers per hour" - about 45 mph.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-02 04:06 pm (UTC)You're thinking Burma and Liberia.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-02 07:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-02 04:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-02 08:45 pm (UTC)Interesting side-note, I've noticed a tendency amongst the metric-conscious to actually say "klicks", "kilometers" or "k". Americans, as is our way, assume everyone thinks the same as we do and don't bother to specify.
Glad you all are okay but
Date: 2007-07-02 08:59 pm (UTC)Must de-dampfy my keyboard.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-05 10:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-05 10:28 pm (UTC)We have plenty of 45-55 thuroughfares but that's it.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-05 11:20 pm (UTC)But remember I'm in Texas, which is almost all small town. We have only five big cities (Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio), and a lot of small towns that are only still alive because a state route was laid through them.
Some of them have speed limits now, so it's easy to be cruising along at a legal 70mph and see a sign that says "Reduced Speed Ahead" followed almost immediately by a sign that says "45 MPH", but that's not universally true.
It really kind of depends on where and how big the town is. The place I live has a 55 limit through town, but to get here via the most popular route you'd drive through a place that has a 70 limit through their main drag. I think the deciding factor is whether the town is big enough to have a downtown on roads that are separate from the big road that runs through the town.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-02 10:49 am (UTC)I'm so glad you're OK!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-02 12:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-02 12:58 pm (UTC)Lawsuit #1: You, suing his estate, for both the damages to his car and the all kinds of problems you go through after being in a fatal accident.
Lawsuit #2: His estate and family, suing you for wrongful death. Sure, he jumped in front of your car, but if you were drunk or tired or didn't react as well as you should have, they very well might sue you. They're not really likely to win unless what you did is really negligence, and if it's really negligence, you probably got charged criminally.
Insurance: You're not at fault, but there's all kinds of ways your insurance company might want to avoid paying out for the repairs to the car and for the help you're going to need. They might also raise your premiums, although my company, at least, guarantees that my premiums will never go up after a non-fault accident and I've actually got insurance against my premiums going up as a result of my first at-fault accident.
As for punishment for jumping in front of cars:
Reckless endangerment, Criminal Negligence, probably a host of other things - the same as if you drop somethign onto a freeway from a bridge because you want to see that cars swerve.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-02 01:07 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-02 05:56 pm (UTC)I don't remember getting into mock fights and pushing each other into oncoming traffic as being that entertaining.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-02 07:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-03 01:35 am (UTC)Apparently it's not on the standardized test.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-02 08:16 pm (UTC)Joining the choir of "glad you and yours are OK" into the soprano line.
"Third or fourth 911 call about this guy"---did they manage to get him before he autoDarwinated himself, one wonders?
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-03 06:13 am (UTC)(tiny vicious parts of me are hoping that they did, and police brutality ensued)
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-02 09:54 pm (UTC)(I would have beaten the man into a coma, as soon as I knew everyone I loved was safe.)
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-03 02:35 pm (UTC)That guy was lucky you were sober. However, he does sound like a prime candidate for a Darwin Award.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-03 02:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-03 03:09 pm (UTC)On the bright side we got our own private room at the Oak and Crown (as improbable as it sounds for Canada day) and had fun playing rich people eating a both end of a ridiculously long table. That and we didn't stay downtown long because we wanted to see the fireworks from his place.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-05 12:56 am (UTC)