Driving Antics

August 5, 2010-Learning to drive and having a car is one of the Top Five Dream Items for most youths in America, the others being---true love, endless allowances, no homework, and college scholarship. The problem is too many people treat driving as a right, when in fact it is really a privilege. Over half a century of being either a driver or pedestrian I came to the conclusion there are three categories of drivers in the City of San Francisco:

#1-Scare Drivers-60% of the City drivers...following the rules of the road and hoping not to get into an accident or get a traffic/parking citation---because it would incur loses in monetary (fines) or time (court appearance, traffic school or doctor visits).
#2-Stupid Drivers-30% of the City drivers...majority of these drivers knows the rules of the road but would rather break the rules for self-convenience. These are usually the arrogant drivers who think they are the best drivers while the rest are bad drivers. These are the drivers that double park on busy street to get a latte or runs errand. The last minute lane changer or cut-in driver while impeding the flow of traffic on others drivers. The blocking of driveway driver because he/she knows a police response can take up to 2 hours to arrive. The opportunistic driver since there is no way a police officer would be station at every corner.

#3-Affluent Drivers-10% of the City drivers...during commuter time with out-of-towners the percentage can reach as high as 20%. These are the drivers of expensive luxury cars-people with wealth or political influences. These drivers can run red light, speed or get a ticket...because they can talk themselves out of a ticket,  afford to pay the ticket or hire a good lawyer to white-wash any incident. They are the King/Queen of the road, while the rest of the populous are just peasant drivers.

There are also two types of pedestrian:

#1-Normal Pedestrians-The ones that stand on the sidewalk until the green signal light flashes, and then looks both ways before crossing the crosswalk. In a uncontrolled crosswalk being very wary of inattentive drivers and never assume the driver would stop in time.

#2-Stupid Pedestrians-The ones that think he/she have the right of way as long as he/she is within the crosswalk---jaywalking, crossing on red light, or not paying attention to the surrounding.

This bring me to this morning at 8:15 AM,  as I was walking up the 500 block of Columbus Avenue and approached the corner of Green Street or better known for just that block as Beach Blanket Babylon Blvd. I had the green "walk" sign to cross the street and I can hear a car engine revving---speeding toward me by the crosswalk. It was a gentleman in a white Audi, he stopped at the crosswalk and I knew he was in a hurry to cross the intersection. Usually in the morning commute time the 500 block of Columbus is a big bottleneck due to three sets of signal lights and buses making turns into Stockton Street, a short-cut would be to take Green Street and back onto Columbus Street. I turned and watch as he allowed another lady behind me crossed the street and then he tried to bolt into Columbus Street while he was on the red light, forcing other pedestrians to go around his car.

I listed this driver as one of my #3-Affluent Drivers, since he must be in a hurry to get to his job at the Financial District...too busy looking to his left to get into traffic and not paying attention to the light:

No right turn on red and the arrow was clearly red, but paying a fine is much better than being late for work. I almost forgot what the chance of a motorcycle cop on that corner---nil!