From the great brown recliner in my living room, I can see through the sheers that cover the windows. On Monday, November 6th, I noticed an increase in the passage of cars along the sleepy street that lies to the south of my rented house. I walked to my west facing open front door and saw a stream of cars moving southward down the intersecting street; they turned east at what I have termed the “Hot Corner.” A small gathering of my neighbors was midway up the street and I stepped out. Police cars and ambulances blocked 10th street and cars were being forced down my street. One of the neighbors told me that a car had raced north on the street and blew through the stop sign at E. 10th street. I could see that car: It was on its side. It had been struck by another car. I watched as paramedics carried a woman from the overturned car to the ambulance.
When my youngest daughter was a child, I tried to sing her out of her misery; she hated to wake up in the morning and would exit her room crying. One day, I swept her up and danced her around the room, singing a “good morning” song. She bounced around in my arms for a moment, then touched me on the chest, and said, “Stop please.” I taught my youngest granddaughter to sing her mother’s good morning song, but when we are having a “tickle-pit” fight and I am winning the tickling war, she says to me, “stop, please.”
In July of this year, I wrote about “The Hot Corner.” (The Weekly View, July 19th, 2023.) When I am playing on the lawn with my granddaughter, we will note the cars that do not stop at the octagon. Some people contend that a lack of attendance at driver’s education classes is the reason so many people disobey traffic laws. I was taught to drive by my first bride and did not have a license until I was 22 years old. I studied the motor vehicle department’s manual which, among other things, mandated a “full and complete stop” at the red and white octagon. I passed the driving test. When my grandson got his driver’s license, his mother was unconcerned about his driving: “He’s gonna drive like Cool Papa (me) hands at 10 and 2.” On this Monday, the driver injured by her lack of concern for the octagon was ironically struck on a street where the temporary traffic calming barriers had recently been removed. Those barriers, which were installed in the turn lanes on E. 10th St., were part of a survey undertaken by a Community Heights organization. Some neighbors did not welcome the barriers, but it did deter those who used the turn lanes as speed lanes to get past drivers obeying the speed limit.
It is selfish and self-centered to ignore posted speed limits and to slide through stop signs; the potential for harm to ourselves and others is great. A casual regard for the octagon can be passed on to our observant youth. A neighbor called out to the woman who was ignoring community standards, telling her to “Slow down!” The woman continued to speed and left the scene in an ambulance. She was animated as she was being transported by stretcher from her flipped car to the ambulance, and I hope that she is doing better, physically. But my greater hope is that we all do better, and as drivers, find a way to do what Myah asks of me:
Stop, please.
cjon3acd@att.net