Defensive Driving Day?

[mbarker]

Yech. All I was supposed to be doing was going to the local grocery to pick up water. Simple, right?

First, as I pull into the parking lot at the grocery, I see Mrs. standing nicely on one side of the drive. On the other side, Mr. is standing beside his car, with his foot up behind himself, yanking at his shoe. Being a cautious sort, I keep my eye on him as I pull past... and sure enough, he finishes whatever he was doing with his shoe, swings his leg down, and steps out, eyes on his wife, without even glancing at the place where cars like mine are coming to run him down. I swerve, and he jumps back, glaring at me as if it was my fault for suddenly being in front of him.

I go ahead, park, get my water, and start home.

Second, at the intersection with the signal, the car in front of me starts to turn left, and slows down because there's a pedestrian crossing. No problem, I was watching both of them and slow down a bit myself. But... the car on the other side seems to take this as a signal to go ahead and start his turn across both of our lanes, just about in time for me to come close to clipping his front bumper that is now in my lane. (Recollect that here in Japan we drive on the left). Again, I had my eyes open and manage to slide through with just a bit of wiggling. I stopped briefly, but he also stopped, so I went ahead and wiggled past.

Third, now I'm close to home, and there's just a right turn into the small road near our house to negotiate. And as I start into it, sure enough... there's a jogger dead center in the middle of my line on the road I am turning into headed towards me, despite the wide and well-maintained sidewalk. Head down, maybe working on his stride. And a truck barreling down the other lane, so I can't exactly swerve into that side. I stop in the middle of the crossroad. The jogger looks up, then jogs up onto the sidewalk.

I have to admit, having two people try their best to walk in front of me... the car, well, he's got some protection around himself. But do people know how much momentum is in a car, even at the low speeds of parking lots and residential roads? I guarantee, getting hit by one will ruin your day. And neither the Mr. in the parking lot nor the jogger were looking around.

Keep your eyes open.

Comments

[dialyn.livejournal.com]

My belief is, these days, the only way to drive is to assume everyone around you will do something that is stupid and/or dangerous. So far my lack of faith in those who share the road (pedestrians, drivers, and bicyclists) has been validated in nearly every trip. I don't understand why people insist on acting as if they are in a video game instead of risking lives (their own or others) with their foolishness. Sounds like things are no better in Japan in this area.

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Most of the time, most of the people do pretty well. I think that's part of what surprised me... these were so blatantly being stupid. Jogging in the middle of the road? With your head down? Come on... But I think you're right, people don't seem to realize the risks they are taking. Maybe they have never seen an accident and realized that cars are dangerous? Hard to believe, especially with the news coverage that some accidents get. I guess they just believe their life is charmed. After all, nothing has happened so far, right?