Surgery today |
Loading ...
Please forgive me in advance if this post seems a bit preachy and non-applicable for some readers. For those it does apply to I hope it resonates on some level and changes how you behave behind the wheel.
On November 2003 I wrote about my wife and oldest son being hit in the middle of a crosswalk. My son escaped the accident with only minor injuries. Today my wife who has been in nearly constant pain since that time goes in for surgery. Part of me wants to go Hulk at drivers who don’t stop for pedestrians. Another part of me wants to go down and videotape how many people still don’t stop at the same crosswalk for pedestrians. An elderly gentleman who rode around in a cart was hit by a car in the same crosswalk and killed.
Tonight I read a story about a 26 year old police officer killed by a car that blew a red light at 80 MPH.
It’s this got to get somewhere as fast as we can, everybody be damned society. Please, if anybody reading this is like that, slow down and stop. The woman who hit my wife and son had all her windows completely frosted over on a sunny morning except for a tiny circle on the driver side. She wasn’t carrying adequate insurance to cover the medical bills to date. Enter our own underinsured motorist coverage to pick up the slack. The woman didn’t own a home or any other assets so the insurance company is going to have to eat the bills which the medical bills alone after the surgery will be over $50,000. And the meter is still running.
A few minutes extra time defrosting her windows and this never would have happened.
Even before my wife was hit I practiced responsible driving and stopped for pedestrians but these days I continue to witness pedestrians not getting the right of way. Just watch the next crosswalk and see how many cars don’t stop. True story, I’ve been stopped at crosswalks and had the car behind me actually honk impatiently.
The doctor says there is only a 60% chance that this surgery will fix my wife’s pain. If it doesn’t then she might live with the pain the rest of her life. Recovery could be as much as 6-8 weeks.
Though it is a dramatically smaller priority and assuming the surgery has no complications, regular blogging will resume here in the next few days. I spent most of yesterday with my wife running errands and last minute appointments before surgery and though I could have written about Microsoft’s new Writer blogging tool (yes, I downloaded and played around with it for a few minutes), I passed.
You might imagine that I’m currently stopped for the pedestrians to pass through the crosswalk of life safely.
Related Posts- 15,000+ doctors social networking over patient cases = Sermo
- Voting today and didn’t try touch screens
- Crosswalk Negligence
- Pedestrians don’t really have the right of way today
- The bill for my wife’s surgery arrived with errors
- Pain in, spider out
Good luck to your wife. Hope it goes well.
And I drive like a granny.
Comment by Randy Charles Morin — August 15, 2006 @ 8:31 am PST
Yikes, this sounds scary. Hope that the surgery goes well and that she emerges pain-free.
Comment by Jeff Barr — August 15, 2006 @ 9:07 am PST
My best to your wife.
It’s strange that only but …well, it’s probably been a decade now, there was a Seattle Times editorial that spoke about how this visiting guy observed someone at 1AM in the middle of Seattle downtown actually wait for a crosswalk signal before moving with no traffic in sight.
Drivers have consistently been pissing me off, and the few times I come home I find the same is happening there too. People that don’t signal when shifting lanes, don’t stop when it says stop… I mean really. DMV should quit giving these morons licenses since it jeopardizes all the rest of us.
Comment by darkmoon — August 15, 2006 @ 10:41 am PST
Here’s hoping your wife’s surgery is a success, TD.
Penalties for these kinds of infractions are far too light. Most other crimes that endanger other people’s lives carry much stiffer punishment. Blowing a red light is equivalent to holding a revolver to someone’s head, not knowing if it is loaded, and pulling the trigger.
Comment by Sterling Camden — August 15, 2006 @ 11:55 am PST
Randy, Jeff, darkmoon and Sterling - thank you for the kind words, much appreciated.
Comment by TDavid — August 15, 2006 @ 9:18 pm PST
Best wishes on the surgery. The most important thing is to support your wife through no matter what, but it sounds like you already realize that.
I’m amazed at the inattentiveness of drivers. A couple of thoughts:
1) I wonder how much of the pedestrian ignorance issue is from people in deep “auto-pilot”. They drive the same route every day and don’t remember most of the trip.
2) I’ve observed that even the nicest people in the world are complete idiots when they get behind the wheel of an automobile. Some of my favorite people are terrible drivers. What is it about driving a car that changes people?
3) I’ve lived everywhere but the northwest. I’ve noticed people in cities are FAR more likely than people in rural areas to be angry “screw you” type drivers, always in a hurry, all about them. In my experience this type of driver was especially common in southern California (I was once a Californian).
4) Some people can talk on a cell phone and drive. Some people can talk to a passenger and drive. Many drivers, however, can’t handle the slightest distraction, let alone cell phone usage and passengers.
5) The biggest most dangerous distraction I have ever had was a child in a carseat up to about age 6. It’s a wonder this isn’t listed as the reason for more accidents.
Anyway, best wishes on the surgery and recovery for your wife.
Comment by Bill H — August 16, 2006 @ 9:13 am PST
I’ve been in hospitalland for the past week as well, as my dad has had successful heart surgery.
My best wishes to you and your family as you work through this…I hope for the best!
Comment by Matt — August 16, 2006 @ 10:16 am PST