Today's Topic Just Hit Me...Well Almost.
I was trying to figure out what I was going to say today and then suddenly it hit me. Well, it didn't hit me, but it did hit someone else. I was walking down the sidewalk after getting a Starbucks mocha frappucino (I love them, they're so fun and frosty!) and I saw this woman driving her Jeep Grand Whatever while gabbing on her cell phone. Seeing people walking, driving, spanking, fucking, etc while talking on their cell phones is really not that unusual, especially for Los Angeles where its pretty much a given. Still, I've made no secret of my feelings on this subject, that people generally drive like complete idiots when they aren't distracted by holding a phone up to their ears, so when you factor the phone part into it, its like adding gasoline to a fire. This is not helpful you know.
So its not just the drivers though, this total jackass decided to cross Santa Monica Boulevard against the light as cars were quickly approaching. Why did Mr. Jackass do this you ask? I don't know (it's sort of like asking why the chicken crossed the road isn't it?), but I do know that in predictable fashion, Mr. Jackass had a cell phone shoved halfway down his ear canal. I'm thinking his parents were definately swimming at the shallow end of the gene pool when he was conceived. So what happened next you ask? All of the sudden Mrs. Talking on the Cell Phone in the Jeep and not giving a shit saw Mr. Jackass in front of her, slammed on her brakes and swerved into oncoming traffic in an attempt to save Mr. Jackass' life.
Unfortunately, she did this right in front of a little blue Chevrolet which managed to swerve to take the impact on the side instead of head on. Unfortunately it was the driver's side which is never fun. After the Jeep hit the blue Chevy, the Jeep flipped over a couple of times and landed on its side (naturally the driver's side was the one on the bottom). The great irony of all of this is that after the Jeep hit the Chevrolet and went off to do its flips, the Chevy was pushed..wait for the dramatic pause...right into Mr. Jackass, naturally running him over and yes, it did cause him to drop his cell phone. In case you're wondering, it turns out the guy in the red Chevrolet was also on his phone. I'm guessing that none of these people were talking to their insurance agents at the time, though it probably would have been a good idea. That would be a good conversation. You know, "hey Bob, I'm glad you're my agent because I'm a complete jackass who is doing some really stupid things and boy is your company going to pay".
Six police cars, five fire trucks, four police motorcycles, three ambulances, two tow trucks (I am seriously not making this up) and a partridge in a pair tree later (okey, I made that last one up), everything was cleaned up, towed away or carted off to the nearest hospital (probably Santa Monica hospital, they didn't look rich enough to go to St. Johns). It took over an hour and the entire block of the street was blocked off, which if you know Los Angeles, you know this is a pretty large and major street. No one died at the scene though I have no idea what the future holds for these people and I have to wonder if those who do survive will equate their misfortune with their complete lack of awareness of what was going on around them because they had Aunt Millie from Topeka shouting through the latest color of Motorola Razr (I can't be too sarcastic here because as I mentioned previously, I got a nice Razr phone in "Paris Hilton Pink" about a month ago because it was very feminine looking and if its possible, I look even cuter than normal when I use it) about being nice to cousin Ricky who is coming to visit because he thinks he wants to be an actor.
I'm not kidding here. You can drive your car, you can talk on your phone, but don't do both at the same time. Either hang up and drive or pull over to the side of the road and gab all you want. What could be so important anyway? I always liked my quiet time driving my little Jeep Wrangler with the top down and the wind blowing my hair all over the place (though I've taken to wearing a little ball cap to keep things from getting too crazy in that department) , its very relaxing. I don't want anyway to call me but when it happens I'm responsible about it. Maybe this is just some Darwinian way of weeding out the people who are too stupid to perpetuate the breeding lines which would be fine except I'm afraid they may try to take me down with them...and I'm not ready to go! I know maybe I sound overly cruel or harsh given the sure extent of the injuries suffered by these people and hardship that this will cause for them and their families, physically, economically and emotionally, I get that, but rather than dwell on feeling bad about their misfortune, I prefer to use it as a learning experience. You know they say there's no better teacher than experience, and if you can learn from someone else's, even better. You don't have to end up like them. Maybe they still would have had the accident if they hadn't been on their phones, but I'm guessing not or at least it wouldn't have been as bad. Mr. Jackass wouldn't have crossed the street into oncoming traffic, Mrs. Jeep would have seen the danger sooner and reacted better and Mr. Chevrolet, well he was pretty much screwed no matter what, sometimes that happens too matter what you do.
The point though is if you want to decrease your probability of this sort of thing happening to you, pay attention! Okey? If you can do that it would be great, and if you can't, please don't drive anywhere near me. I'll be the cute Asian girl in the Jeep who is giving you nasty looks while trying to get as far away from you as possible. You wouldn't want that, now would you?
