Bob Made Me Do It

Been sick for two weeks straight, trying to get to the bottom of an iron level falling by the month, trying to recover from a fever that led to an entire mouthful of canker sores, where chewing vicodin by the handful doesn't seem to have any effect anymore. Like everyone else, I hate being sick.

Having slept in most mornings to get past this, I've been forced to drive to work more these past two weeks as the Elk Grovian e-Tran buses don't run beyond 7:45 in the morning. I'm chronically tired, and having to drive myself is a somewhat more dangerous endeavor for both you and me as now you get a drugged up, drowsy partner in traffic.

Nonetheless, yesterday morning on Broadway I was very nearly rear-ended as I had stopped to allow a lady to exercise her use of the crosswalk at 53rd. I saw her a long way off, because I'm acutely aware of how many crosswalks there are on Broadway -- a whole lot. And this time of year, in both September and March, the sun rises very nearly in-line with the road and it can be exceedingly difficult to see. I am aware of this, because I bike to work this same direction, and I am always, always aware of my surroundings as a bicyclist is just as transparent to a speeding, inattentive motorist blinded by the sun as is a pedestrian in the crosswalk. I slow down.

Even I had a hard time seeing this lady at first, even for someone who claims to be wary of other users of the roadway. I had stopped well before she attempted to enter the walk from the opposite side, and a consequence of doing so led to a motorist behind me to squeal her brakes so as to not hit me. Unbelievable. I could possibly, quite possibly, understand this from time to time, but the next time you travel westbound on Broadway take note of how many black tire marks there are, how many times other people have had to react the same way this driver did, and think about how many times people have failed to stop in time. It happens all the time.

If you do so, you'll not have to wonder how yesterday an 80-year old lady was killed while walking her dog in Natomas, crossing in a marked crosswalk. Interviewed, the driver said she couldn't see her because of the sun.

That should be an good enough excuse, right? I mean, Bob (bright orange ball) is something of a pesky nuisance to motorists, something we haven't yet been able to fix through the magic of automotive technology like we have with back-up cameras and electronic stability control. It's out of her hands, she couldn't see.

Scroll over the map of that intersection, and then tell me that speed couldn't have possibly contributed to this lady's death. The intersection of two collector roads in the heart of suburbia? If it's anything like every fucking intersection in Elk Grove, there isn't anyone who 1) even knows the posted speed limit and 2) obeys it. This lady died due to the excessive speed of another lady, most certainly. If you can't see because of the sun, slow the fuck down.

I can only imagine what the driver will have to live with for the rest of her fifty/sixty years on this rock, having to live with having killed someone else by accident. She may even live longer than the lady she killed, because she knows damn well she'll never walk around Natomas, knowing how dangerous it is. Fuck no, she's gonna drive the rest of her days. It was an accident, yes, but one that's widely acceptable, one that's actually expected, considering that we build roadways with the express purpose of moving motorized vehicles -- and every other user? Take your chances. We built these Natomas roads without any "hazzards" to create friction, to slow down drivers, with no trees or other obstacles to drivers who wander out of their lanes, who get themselves into trouble due to speed.

No. The only hazzards are eighty year old ladies and their dogs in marked crosswalks.