Cars like this only shittier
Yesterday my wife was in a fender-bender. She was rear-ended by some teen girl who was focused on her cellphone. The good news is that Mrs. Patterson was not hurt. Also, said teen had insurance and the accident was not my wife’s fault. So this will eventually work itself out.
After work I had to pick my wife up at one of the local body shops. On the drive home we are stopped at a major intersection (major for a town of 60k) when we witnessed an assault. We see two tripped out cars stopped at the light to the left of us. The front car has plates from our area whereas the back car has California plates. I see California passenger get out, walk up to the driver, and–I kid you not–slug him. He then dashes back into the tripped out car and they tear out.
Questions/observations:
- I wonder what led up to it?
- Where the punks in the California car wannabes or actual gangbangers?
- At least they did not have guns. Or if they had them they chose not to use them.
- This area used to have a bad meth problem that’s supposed to have gotten better. Related? Not sure.
- Do California gangbangers or wannabes deal in meth? I’m so far removed from the prison stuff that I no longer know.
- It happened so fast that the only thing we remember is California plates and the car was silverish. No numbers and no descriptions of the punks.
So this intersection is at a divided double highway. After the punch the local driver sat their trying to console his passenger who was hunched over. The light turned green and we had to move. As we started to drive we saw a pick-up truck stop to see if the kids where okay.
And yes, we did not report it. However, after having had the chance to sleep I think I’m going to call the police station and see if anyone did. Honestly though, I don’t know what good it will do other than ease my guilty conscience.
Aurora Shootings:
Unrelated to our little adventure but still worth mentioning…
- Gun control advocates are trying a new strategy and relaunch.
The idea, he said, is rescue the debate from the poles on either side of the gun control issue. The new site will feature a petition demanding politicians start talking about gun violence and how to prevent it. “It begins at the top with the president and Mitt Romney offering more than sympathy,” Gross said.
- Another nut almost came unglued.
Timothy Courtois, 49, was stopped by Maine State Police after speeding at 112 mph in his Ford Mustang. He told police he was on his way to Derry, New Hampshire, where he planned to shoot a former employer.
I’m going to use that second article to step briefly on my soapbox. In the wake of the Aurora shootings I’ve watched some of the pro-gun crowd cart out this tired old chesnut:
“Guns kill people just like spoons make fat people fat. Why don’t we ban spoons to protect fat people?”
When was the last time some nut tried to use an eating utensil to create mass casualties? Or, put another way, why do the armies of the world prefer automatic weapons over sticks, stones, and blades?
-BCP
I have also seen this happen Bob. Guy punches another while he is seated in his car. I would keep the window up and door locked, and if and when I open it, it will be hard and fast. I am beginning to think dark tinted windows almost to the point of illegality might be a good idea. People cannot see who they are dealing with, so are less likely to start something.
Our UK road rage does not often end in violence but we do suffer from the tank syndrome.From the safety of their vehicle some drivers will mouth obscenities for the slightest impedance to their rights as owner of the road. Regarding the gun problem we have over reacted. A pistol license was only granted to genuine members of a shooting club. The weapons had to be kept secure and only transported from home to club. The police would check your club attendance and the home security of the weapon prior to the renewal of your 3 year license. Unfortunately you cannot legislate for nutters. We had a couple of tragedies within 5 or 6 years of each other that caused a public outcry. This resulted in the banning of all hand guns and virtually destroyed the sport of target shooting. Our Olympic pistol team have to go to Jersey in order to practice..
I’ll be intrigued with what the police have to say about the report if you make one. It seems like such a small thing in the great scope, but who knows what the cops see has valuable info.
SMK – it happened so fast the poor schmuck had no chance to roll it up.
Danny – yeah that’s a risk for sure. Too far in the other direction. Honestly I doubt much will happen. Our politicians are largely idiots. We also have a strong pro gun lobby.
Reported & a waste of time. The slugee did not report it nor did the guy who stopped to check.
No plates & a poor description on my part so cops can’t do much.
At least my guilt is gone.
re: “too fast to roll it up” — I used to be into disability studies, and “lurked” on an arm amputee list for a few years. It was surprising how many of those who had lost one arm had lost it in a car accident: window rolled down, car flips and/or slides — crushes/tears off arm.
I now **always** drive with the windows up: three inches down, max.
–GG
Bob, nice blog you have here.
Toronto Canada, people have a bad habit of getting out of the car and engaging in fisticuffs by the roadside. Guilty (but never charged, lucky me!) I finally had to promise somebody important to me that I’d never get out of the car again. That’s working well, the promise takes away the need to protect the machismo, know what I mean?
Having a huge black pickup truck doesn’t hurt either. The little punk cars usually leave you alone, try it on with minivans instead. When they do try it on, you know you can pretty much drive over them in a pinch, so some of the adrenaline gets taken away.
Like you said, tinting and keeping the windows up works really well. I’d add a set of nerf bars and a kangaroo catcher front bumper to the list, some strategically placed rust spots and small dents don’t hurt. Punks don’t mess with guys who don’t care about the paintwork, apparently. Just don’t make it look like a wreck or the cops will hassle you every day.
Bottom line, society is getting progressively less civil every year. Yes, Canada too. I see it more in the Big City, but in rural areas I see it some as well. Combination of keeping the eyes open, mouth shut and looking like a hard target seems to be the method of choice going forward.
As to the gun “debate”, as long as society is becoming less civil I think going armed is going to become the norm, legal or not. See Jamaica for example, a country where pistols are 100% illegal and -everybody- has one. In a disturbed environment, do I really want to be more worried about the cops than the robbers? Just one more aspect of the issue that never seems to come up on TV, right?