Stupid SUV Drivers
I went home for lunch, dashing in the front door and running for the bathroom like a madwoman. Hubby laughed at me when I complained that the speed bump on our block nearly killed me even though I went over it REALLY slow because my bladder was giving all sorts of warning signs of impending doom. ;-)
To set up the Stupid SUV Drivers issue, I have to explain my neighborhood (and let those who know what I drive laugh - it's a Jeep Cherokee). We live on one end of a block, with a neighbor whose house faces the side street the only narrow yard between our house and that side street. It's uphill from us, and the intersection is a four-way stop. At the other end of the block is a street that is home to a local *very* expensive private school, which has purchased all the houses on the next block down from them with intent to build a high school at some point. In the middle of the block is a cul-de-sac street. If you're driving from the school's end of the block, there's a speed bump between that street and the cul-de-sac.
People FLY down our street all the time and pretend that speed bump is a launching pad. The four-way stop our end of the block is a joke, as none of the folks driving through our neighborhood *ever* stop. Up the hill from the four-way is another private school, although it's more a daycare/elementary private school, and just up from them is a daycare. So we get a lot of non-locals cutting back out to the main drag via our neighborhood. Getting out of our driveway is like playing a game of Frogger, and there's low visibility to one side of the intersection above our house because the neighbors there have shrubbery and a low brick wall.
In leaving the house, I looked both ways, noting the only vehicle was a huge black SUV just coming to a stop down at the school's street - a block away with a speed bump in between me and it. Plenty of time to back out and get to the stop sign at the intersection by my house. I pulled out, keeping a close eye on the blind spot uphill, then glanced back to the south just as I entered the street. The huge black SUV had FLOWN up from the school street after turning left and slammed on its brakes, blaring the horn. How in the hell they managed that speedbump without ripping out their suspension, I don't know. I backed back into my driveway to let them go by, cursing the stupid non-locals, and the SUV blasted through the four-way stop without even hitting her brakes - and right on her bumper was a bragging sticker about her child attending Expensive Private School. Too bad affording their tuition didn't teach mom how to drive.
And yep, SUV driver was on her cell phone - AND smoking a cigarette with the other hand. I'm surprised she bothered to stop and not hit me, but then again, maybe the size of my jeep was a deterrent.
Too bad the stupid motorcycle cops who set up speed traps all over town can't be bothered with our neighborhood. They could write two dozen a morning just on the folks running the stop signs coming downhill and speeding uphill.