Attribution: Elise240SX, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
By Bill Stokes
Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports on the good fortune of the keeper and Phyllis in escaping an intersection collision thanks to the interference run by the driver of a big black pickup. While the keeper was simultaneously making the turn with the pickup, a car driver ran a traffic light and smashed into the front of the pickup. Had the pickup not been there, the impact would have involved the passenger side of the keeper’s vehicle, and it could have been very bad for Phyllis.
The keeper has not always had the kindest words for the huge road-hogging pickups with drivers who seem to hone bully mentalities, but this one time he was happy to cede the narrowing lane to the black pickup as the car crashed into it and pieces from both vehicles went flying.
In a recent lengthy assessment by the NYT magazine on how deteriorating attitudes and actions of drivers are responsible for an increase in traffic fatalities in recent years, bad driving was cited as being very contagious. As one psychiatrist put it, “We may be zipping down the highway, trapped in our own steel bubbles, but we’re influenced by the behavior of residents of the bubbles next to ours.”
The keeper vows to maintain a peaceful and solitary presence in his bubble out there on the great racetrack, even with pickup drivers. He also agrees with Phyllis that it might be a good idea to stay off the wintery roads until at least May.
Photo by Bill Stokes