Bad Drivers
So, I was driving to work this morning and watching a music video …
Isn't it amazing what people will do while they are supposed to be concentrating on the road? I've seen women putting on makeup, men reading the newspaper, and countless people talking on cell phones. So here was a Jeep right in front of me, with a video playing. The video looked like an Electric guitarist gyrating on a stage. (The instrument was electric, not the performer.) The screen looked like it was just above the center of the dash. It was hard to tell looking through the back window. "Maybe it's back between the two front seats," I thought. I couldn't see any passengers. It did not seem like a small child's video. I maneuvered my car a little to the left to see if there was a passenger in a rear seat. I didn't see a passenger, but I saw another screen on the back of the right front seat. That had to mean that the one in the center was for the front seats. Some setup! "Maybe the video is for a passenger in the right seat," was my generous thought. I hate to think ill of people. Unfortunately, the seatbacks were high and the Jeep's windows were higher than my Saturn's. Even when I weaved left and right, I couldn't see a passenger. Yep, the parallax showed me that the center screen was up front. Who was this with a video in the front seat? Was it really for the driver, or was there a hidden passenger?
I still couldn't see well enough to know whether there was a passenger in the right seat. There was a speed bump coming up. I pulled to the left and punched it. My timing was perfect. I launched my car up even with the driver's window as I passed the Jeep. It was a 40ish white man with a young child in the back seat and no front seat passenger. What an idiot! I grabbed a scrap of paper and a pen and wrote down his license number, reading it backwards in my rear-view mirror. Then, as I drove away, I whipped out my cell phone and called the local sheriffs' office.
Isn't it amazing what people will do while they are supposed to be concentrating on the road? I've seen women putting on makeup, men reading the newspaper, and countless people talking on cell phones. So here was a Jeep right in front of me, with a video playing. The video looked like an Electric guitarist gyrating on a stage. (The instrument was electric, not the performer.) The screen looked like it was just above the center of the dash. It was hard to tell looking through the back window. "Maybe it's back between the two front seats," I thought. I couldn't see any passengers. It did not seem like a small child's video. I maneuvered my car a little to the left to see if there was a passenger in a rear seat. I didn't see a passenger, but I saw another screen on the back of the right front seat. That had to mean that the one in the center was for the front seats. Some setup! "Maybe the video is for a passenger in the right seat," was my generous thought. I hate to think ill of people. Unfortunately, the seatbacks were high and the Jeep's windows were higher than my Saturn's. Even when I weaved left and right, I couldn't see a passenger. Yep, the parallax showed me that the center screen was up front. Who was this with a video in the front seat? Was it really for the driver, or was there a hidden passenger?
I still couldn't see well enough to know whether there was a passenger in the right seat. There was a speed bump coming up. I pulled to the left and punched it. My timing was perfect. I launched my car up even with the driver's window as I passed the Jeep. It was a 40ish white man with a young child in the back seat and no front seat passenger. What an idiot! I grabbed a scrap of paper and a pen and wrote down his license number, reading it backwards in my rear-view mirror. Then, as I drove away, I whipped out my cell phone and called the local sheriffs' office.