Incredibly Stupid & Criminal Pedestrian Long 4593

223rem

I did call the police when I got home, and also included the license plate of the black car and told them that the driver had gone after the pedestrian after he had caused him to drive his car into a ditch. I also told them that no doubt there were many witnesses to this would-be tragedy, from other people on the side of the road up further, to all the other cars coming up on both sides of the lane who had to stop, and espc. the black car who would have creamed me if not for going into a ditch.

Re: hit and run, I don't think this situation could be construed as a hit and run, because a: I did stop (and then some!), and later pulled over, and b: the "pedestrian" who ran away to the other side of the road was obviously not "hit" but bumped, and barely at that. c: the so called "victim" fled the scene. Period. I was also in no condition to run afer him, and as is common on many of these rural highways, there are long stretches of forested areas on either side, and that's where this coward took off into after causing all the havoc.

I did consider waiting longer for the man in the black car to return (though I did wait in my car for a little while trying to regain my composure- and pulse!) However, since the other driver went after him into the forest, I figured using his license plate was the best I could do in terms of witness information, espc. since he was a victim in this situation as well.

I also don't hold much hope for anything happening at my end in terms of justice, because I couldn't get the jerk's id, and all I could do was recount what happened on the phone. In my experience, the police never call you back when you report dangerous, or even suicidal activity on the roads- unless you were part of a serious accident. I'm just buttuming and hoping that the guy in the black car, if he caught the fleeing pedestrian, would have forced him to give over his id so that he at least had something solid to go to the police with and charge him.

Looking back on this, I'm so glad I was driving the older Toyota stick shift, not because of the manual trans. but because the other car I sometimes drive (a relative's) is a similar looking wagon, newer Subaru, but it is automatic and has ABS brakes which I still cannot get used to, particularly the loss of steering and control I've experienced in it. I'm almost positive that if I had been driving that car, that I would have hit the pedestrian, and probably swerved into oncoming traffic or into the ditch on the other side of the road to try to regain control.

Ironically, the older car I was driving has a rim leak in the back driver's side tire, and as is common in very hot weather, some of the other tires were a bit down also. Hours before all this happened, my first stop was to a local gas station and I paid 50 cents so I could put air in 3 of the 4 tires that needed it. I think now that that was the best 50 cents I ever spent.

What started out as a nice day to go berry picking, ended up horribly, but at least no one was end- though, just by the skin of our teeth. Again, ironically, I had just been coming back from picking berries, and though they were in containers and bags, the mbuttive amount of braking I had to do resulted in mashed strawberries all over the car. It looked like a mbuttacre inside. Creepy, and I'm still cleaning it up today with soap and water.

What an unpleasant reminder that pedestrians can be just as deadly to drivers as anything even the largest semi-truck on a 4 lane highway can dish out. At least you can see that one coming and try to anticipate.