Yellow means caution
In addition to being hit by a nun while my car alarm was going off, I was also in another bus accident. Yes, that makes two bus accidents in the last six months. I am starting to think that I should just stay home and listen to all the cool new music I’ve downloaded while fretting about how scary the outside world is.
I caught the #22 home yesterday and everything seemed to be going quite well until we reached a pedestrian crosswalk shortly before Broadway and MacDonald. As I am quite the bus aficionado, I have picked up some quirks about drivers: sometimes they wave at each other; sometimes they jockey for position with each other; they almost always stop for pedestrians at crosswalks. As such, it was a bit surprising when the bus driver beeped his horn at a girl who was riding her bike across this particular crosswalk. I mean, come on, she wasn’t walking: she was riding her bike. It takes like what, seven seconds to motor across MacDonald? And the bus stop is right after the crosswalk, so he has to slow down and stop anyways. It was weird. I couldn’t see the whole thing because I was seated behind the line of sight of the driver, so my view was obstructed by that Plexiglas wall that has been installed so you can’t throw milkshakes at Transit employees. An older gentleman sitting near the front of the bus did say, “Why can’t you just stop?” after the driver beeped at the cyclist. I didn’t hear what the driver said. This was definitely foreshadowing of what was to come.
We cross Broadway and are heading up to 12th when the driver beeps yet again. And applies the brakes, I mean really applies the brakes and we’re starting to skid. The guy in front of me is semi-launched out of his seat and flailing for something to grab onto. I am pushing off of the seat in front of me because I don’t want to eat it and then… bang! We hit the car. It was a pretty solid connection. People are a bit dazed and confused and someone asks what happened and another person replies that the light was yellow, the driver tried to run it – anticipating that the BMW in front of us was going to run it too. Yeah, well the BMW came to a full stop. Then the driver said two things that pre-empted the mass exodus of riders from the bus: “this is the second time this week”; and (my favorite) “yellow means hurry up”. Um, wow. Yellow never means hurry up when you have a bus full of people and you are trying to cross 12th Avenue (which is a big intersection to cross) and there is a car in front of you.
Okay. So that was that. I really am a simple person. I like to spend time with friends and family. I like to listen to my music and read my books. I don’t want for much. I’d be happy if there were less silverfish in my apartment. Um, I wish I could eat healthier sometimes. And – oh yeah – I would just really love it if I could stop getting in bus and car accidents. It’s the little things, really…
I caught the #22 home yesterday and everything seemed to be going quite well until we reached a pedestrian crosswalk shortly before Broadway and MacDonald. As I am quite the bus aficionado, I have picked up some quirks about drivers: sometimes they wave at each other; sometimes they jockey for position with each other; they almost always stop for pedestrians at crosswalks. As such, it was a bit surprising when the bus driver beeped his horn at a girl who was riding her bike across this particular crosswalk. I mean, come on, she wasn’t walking: she was riding her bike. It takes like what, seven seconds to motor across MacDonald? And the bus stop is right after the crosswalk, so he has to slow down and stop anyways. It was weird. I couldn’t see the whole thing because I was seated behind the line of sight of the driver, so my view was obstructed by that Plexiglas wall that has been installed so you can’t throw milkshakes at Transit employees. An older gentleman sitting near the front of the bus did say, “Why can’t you just stop?” after the driver beeped at the cyclist. I didn’t hear what the driver said. This was definitely foreshadowing of what was to come.
We cross Broadway and are heading up to 12th when the driver beeps yet again. And applies the brakes, I mean really applies the brakes and we’re starting to skid. The guy in front of me is semi-launched out of his seat and flailing for something to grab onto. I am pushing off of the seat in front of me because I don’t want to eat it and then… bang! We hit the car. It was a pretty solid connection. People are a bit dazed and confused and someone asks what happened and another person replies that the light was yellow, the driver tried to run it – anticipating that the BMW in front of us was going to run it too. Yeah, well the BMW came to a full stop. Then the driver said two things that pre-empted the mass exodus of riders from the bus: “this is the second time this week”; and (my favorite) “yellow means hurry up”. Um, wow. Yellow never means hurry up when you have a bus full of people and you are trying to cross 12th Avenue (which is a big intersection to cross) and there is a car in front of you.
Okay. So that was that. I really am a simple person. I like to spend time with friends and family. I like to listen to my music and read my books. I don’t want for much. I’d be happy if there were less silverfish in my apartment. Um, I wish I could eat healthier sometimes. And – oh yeah – I would just really love it if I could stop getting in bus and car accidents. It’s the little things, really…
posted by Duder at 9:33 AM
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