A friend of a friend was driving home after dropping another friend off, and she accidentally drove through a red light. Her heart nearly jumped out of her throat, screamed, and leaped back into the chest cavity for safety. She is that afraid of the "WOOP WOOP" and flashing blue lights. They strike terror into the hearts of many innocent people, while the guilty laugh as they get away with things and nod when they don't. But what was she supposed to do? Stop, back up (*beep*beep*), and take her place at the red light like she was supposed to before breaking the law? No, because that would be more dangerous than continuing on as if nothing happened.
Why does it have to be this way? When you cut someone off accidentally and are truly sorry, you can't slow down or do anything to show remorse. The only thing you can do is say, "Oops, oh shit," and keep driving while the moment of guilt passes into the traffic oblivion. And when you speed because you just forgot to keep a paranoid eye on your odometer, but you tap the brake once you realize, but oh, no, too late, there's the fuzz on your ass getting you to pull over. "Sorry, officer." That's the only sorry you get to say, but it means nothing. Nothing! Anything you can actually do when driving to show remorse for your mistakes would only cause additional problems, and yet when we want to show people anger we can flip them off and honk our horns (which have a language all their own. *boop*BONK!!!* means "FUCK YOU!!!").
A scene from a cinematic classic comes to mind: in Clueless when Cher bumps a parked car on the side of the road and exclaims, "Should I write him a note?!" That basically illustrates how I feel many times when driving, but all I can do is cringe and hope some higher power understands that I wasn't trying to disobey traffic laws or be an asshole. I mean the friend of a friend wasn't trying to disobey traffic laws.
Lucky for her nothing happened.
But she still feels bad because it was by sheer luck nothing happened.
She should really get some sleep.
On a completely unrelated note, I bought my plane ticket for San Francisco! Steph and I are leaving on the 23rd and coming back on the 28th. I have never been to California (the furthest out west I have ever been is the Smoky Mountains). I can't wait. My friend Megan told me California is the land of avocados, and I love me some guacamole. We also are planning on going to visit Alcatraz. I'm more terrified of the boat ride over (I love water and love to swim, but I can't stand being on boats, even small ones like canoes). Also, we have a layover on the way back in Las Vegas, so I'll be able to add that to my very small list of places I've been. Kind of.
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5 comments:
I busted a left at a red light in DC about a month ago.
The cops saw. I got pulled over. I was also let go.
I definitely had a panic attack that night. No bullshit.
How did you get out of that one? This is not curiosity. This is searching for tips. :o)
I was incredibly respectful, owned up to the bullshit I did and apologized profusely.
Maybe I'll be you're flight attendant? Who knows?
The cops make me wet me pants. And not in a good way.
We're flying out of DCA. Do you ever do flights from there?
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