An Open Letter That Will Change Nothing

apartment blues · February 2010

Yesterday I was walking home from C Town around 4pm. I started to cross 6th avenue at 10th street and decided to look both ways even though I had a stale walk sign. An elderly lady drove right through a stale red light and then proceeded to drive through 2-3 more and then came to a dead stop at a green light. She came so close to hitting me that I felt the breeze of the car. I yelled for her to stop but she kept driving. I considered trying to get the license plate but I also know that nothing would ever be done about it. No police officer can do anything and that is really sad. I can already hear it now, “Sir, we didn’t see a crime and can’t do anything about it.” A true disaster waiting to happen.

veets · February 2010

Ok I guess this is a serious discussion.
Sorry I jumped to the side of saying something negative.

toadette · February 2010

Maybe he just wanted to vent/share that he almost got killed by an elderly driver. Going with the benefit of the doubt here. Sounds scary. I'd probably feel a need to tell someone about it if it were me. I actually almost got hit by a car at 6th and 14th once (driver on her phone, I had to literally jump out of the way, emitted girly scream that I've never heard myself make before, and was alarmed that if I ever get killed by something like that, that awful sound will be my last utterance) and was like...in shock and babbled about it to anyone I saw right after.

But yeah, the issue of older folks losing their ability to drive safely is a serious one, and scary. And yeah, it is very hard to do anything to get folks like that off the road. If they don't have someone in their life who can physically take away the keys there's little that can be done. Even those who fail the occasional DMV retests can just do what so many other bad drivers do - go sans license.

Anyhow, glad you're okay, AB.

doublediamond · February 2010

Never heard the term "stale red light" or "stale walk sign." Explain?

apartment blues · February 2010

Double,

A stale light means it is in the middle of its cycle. In other words, a stale red light means that it has been red for at least a few seconds.

Toadette,

Thanks for getting it.

My grandmother had Picks disease and we could not convince her or my grandfather to get her off the road. So my grandma was driving long past the time she should have been. We talked to a lawyer and her doctors and the advice we got was that aside from hiding her keys and selling her car, there was nothing we could do. Add to that an enabling husband (my grandfather) and the situation was just awful. It took things to get really bad for my grandfather to grip reality. I understand it all, but there are no laws that we ever found that could have helped us get my grandmother off the road.

It is a terrible situation for everyone involved. The elderly feel their independence is being taken away, yet some elderly drivers are truly dangerous.

hunter.gatherer · February 2010

AB, I'm also glad you're alright, and no one else (apparently) was hit by that driver. And I agree with you about some elderly drivers (and suspect you'd be with me on the subject of dangerous drivers of all ages). I remember it took my father quite some doing to get my grandmother (his mother) to stop driving when she was no longer able to do so safely.

I only disagree with you on two subjects: these kinds of conversations can and do change things - we have been having or seeing this discussion re: bicyclists and motorists in this city for many years now, and it's gotten much better out there, while leaving much room for improvement.

And (B): This is not an open letter. You used the wrong format :cyclopsani: (the right format would be something like "An Open Letter to the Elderly Lady who blew through several red lights on 6th Ave," and written as if she would read it.

The reason I like the format is that others reading your comments, to whom they might apply, would not feel personally attacked. But regardless of how we present these conversations, the important thing is that we talk about the issues.

Thanks for posting this.

zebra · February 2010

Reckless driving is a crime, so I don't see why you can't report it. I've reported drivers like this before. Cops can at least observe a character like this driver.

apartment blues · February 2010

Hunter,

I think you are correct that by talking about these issues it moves the issues forward (even if only slowly).

And I agree with you that dangerous drivers exist of all ages. I have seen folks on their cell phones drive very poorly and I support laws and legislation that reasonably addresses such behaviors.

illig · February 2010

err... the cops can definitely do something about it... whether they will, that's another question

on monday, i saw a pedestrian hit by a car from my office window... the car then sped off... we called 911 and a witness provided the license plate of the offender, who is now being sought

opossumqueen · February 2010

A few weeks ago, I was almost hit by and elderly woman. She was trying to turn the wrong way onto 8th Ave as people crossed. I stood in front waving my arms, but just made it clear she was going to go and sped around me. After a couple of blocks she then turned the wrong way onto another street. Very scary.

For the record, I've probably had more close encounters (ie, people running lights, etc.) with non-elderly around here.

matthurst · February 2010

It's a serious problem that scares us all. If we can't do much about it, why can;t we laugh? Reminds me of this episode on South Park http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/103856/

An Open Letter That Will Change Nothing

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