cultural cannon fodder

saturday evening on my way home from work, i witnessed an accident. i was directly behind the car and pedestrian involved. man was it sweet.

so this dude, arms full of thos fruit smoothies and burgers ran between cars at a red light. as he zig zagged through the three lanes, he crossed in front of a huge delivery truck, getting ready to cross the right hand turn lane.

anyway, he darted faster than a fat dude at an all-you-can-eat-buffet (seriously, those people can move when it comes to food). because we were turning right and traffic was busy, you generally dont see whats going on between the lanes. there is also a spot for pedestrians to cross, but he decided to cross about 20 feet before the blessed white lines.

as a driver, you generally dont expect someone to dart out in that particular spot. its expected to at least pause and or stop before the white lines just in case a pedestrian or cyclist is around. i will be honest, i care more for cyclists than pedestrians. there, i said it.

back to the story. so this dude, a salesrep for audi just ran across the street, crossing the right turning lane, and running right into the car in front of me. it was rather spectacular the scene i witnessed. burgers and smoothies went everywhere like a pinata exploding. the road, the dude, and the car. oh man, the car, inside and out. it was 107 that day, really hot and dry. the car in front was an older ford taurus (maybe they were headed to the audi dealership) with all the windows down.

the dude (he has been and always will be called the dude) broke the windshield and side view mirror of the ford, rolled across the hood, and then dropped to the ground on the other side of the vehicle. he screamed while holding his smoothie soaked arm, "why the F#@* did you hit me!"

now this is where i have an opinion. the dude hit the car. given, the car took a hit, but this dude was completely in the wrong, and still found it convenient to fault find. wow. the passenger got out, looking back at me, saying, "you saw it, right? he came out of nowhere!" i nodded in agreement, laughing.

the police came to the audi parking lot, took down our stories, and then told me i could go. i swear, that dude never once said he was at fault. his biggest complaint was that he saw the ford coming, but that they didnt slow down. i would never have hit him for the simple reason that i had just washed my truck.

by the way, the pic is of me in guaymas mexico making pinatas with my friend carlos. kaboom!