If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen me posting last Sunday about an incident I had while heading back to my apartment after going on a long walk with my daughter, who was in a stroller.
If you don't, why not? You missed out on quite the story!
For those of you who didn't see what happened, I was crossing route 20 in Painesville at a crosswalk with the crosswalk light indicating I could cross. Without even thinking anything could happen (which was a mistake given what nearly happened minutes earlier at another crossing), I started heading across the street, Kylie in front of me.
Suddenly, I heard a horn honk, looked to my left, and saw a car pretty much right on me. Without really thinking, I slammed my hand onto the hood of the car as it rolled into my knee, which thanks to me lifting myself up slightly, allowed me to roll off the side of the car and onto the pavement. My actions also forced the stroller in front further, thus avoiding injury to Kylie. She ended up facing the sky as the stroller fell back when I landed as I had never let go of the handle.
Almost immediately you could hear people yelling at the driver and one woman was running towards me. I later realized she was a passenger in the Jeep that had honked and multiple people, including an off-duty police officer, had called 911 before I could even get off the street.
I'll admit. I was dazed by what happened, not because I had hit my head or anything, but the shock my system temporarily went into after landing. It took a minute to realize I should check on Kylie, who looked extremely annoyed that she was looking up at the sky as opposed to forward. After looking her over and feeling relief that she wasn't hurt, I checked my knee out (which is still bruised today).
Luckily I only had a couple of scrapes and no pain in the knee (adrenaline is wonderful sometimes), so I didn't need EMS even though they arrived, along with several police officers, very quickly after the accident.
The woman herself appeared to be in shock too. When I walked over to where the police were at, she just said she never saw me. She didn't know why, she just never saw me.
This has been the part of the story that has caused confusion it seems for those that I've discussed this with. Most have said they would've been extremely angry, that they would've been yelling at the woman if they had been hit. Seriously injured or not, they would've been pissed off.
I get that. That's the natural response. That and "how could you NOT see me?"
And honestly, I wanted to be a little mad about it. I wanted to be mad because my daughter was nearly hit. I wanted to feel more outrage to an extent.
But I didn't.
And it's possible that if it happens to anyone who claims they'd be angry, I'm not so sure they'd be as angry as they think. I don't know. They probably don't really know. It's hard to tell how you're going to react because shock and adrenaline do different things to different people.
I've never been an angry outburst type of person when I feel something was done maliciously. In other words, if I feel it was an accident and the person feels bad enough, it's hard to get mad at the person. This woman clearly felt bad, so it was hard to get mad.
Honestly, I've nearly hit people crossing because I didn't see them. You aren't always looking for pedestrians and sometimes your mind is distracted. You've made that turn a hundred times and just don't think someone could be walking through the intersection until you either come close to hitting them or nearly hit them.
Now, if Kylie had been hurt, I might have found some rage. But between not being hurt myself and her not being hurt, I was too occupied with being relieved to be mad in the least.
Plus, I learned a long time ago that negative energy doesn't get you very far, that sometimes it's better to take a look at the big picture. Yes, I was hit by a car, but I wasn't seriously hurt and my daughter was uninjured. Big picture, it could've been a lot worse if the driver of the Jeep didn't honk his horn, or if I had crossed slightly slower than I had been. Kylie most certainly would've been hit in that case and possibly injured.
In the long run, I feel relieved still. So anger is not an option for me right now.
The bigger issue is the problem of crossing the road. There are crosswalks and signs for a reason, yet many drivers ignore pedestrians or act inconvenienced if someone's crossing the street. As I mentioned before, I had nearly been hit a few moments earlier at a different crosswalk.
The difference was the guy driving through saw me clearly crossing and decided to cut me off anyway. I made eye contact with him as he drove by without a care. I yelled some things at him, yet it was pointless. He didn't care. It would've been far different if he had hit me because he KNEW I was crossing and flat-out didn't care.
I can deal with someone having a moment and not seeing me, even with my daughter involved. It happens to all of us. I can't deal with someone who clearly doesn't care and cuts me off because his precious time is far more valuable than the safety of a pedestrian.
Anyhow, after the police ran my social and EMS had me sign off that I was okay, the police informed me that I could go home if I wanted, that they didn't need me for anything else. I thanked them, EMS, and the people who had stopped and showed they cared. This included the couple in the Jeep, the off-duty officer, and a man on a bike who had been yelling out the offending car's license plate number in case the woman fled the scene.
You all showed that unlike the jerk in the previous intersection, you gave a damn and are the type of people I can be proud of. Even the woman who hit me showed some compassion, even if she still was fairly stunned when I went to leave.
The most astounding part of the ordeal came after I was allowed to leave. I once again hit the button to get a signal to cross, but this time, I waited a moment before crossing the street. I didn't think the odds of a third vehicle nearly hitting me were good, but I wasn't taking the chance.
It's a good thing I did so, because the obnoxiously large pick-up truck that was first in line not only went through without allowing me to cross, it peeled out as if the driver intended on getting through before I could even think about it. I heard someone yell "what the hell is wrong with people" and one of the officers called into dispatch to report the license plate of the truck.
I then was able to FINALLY safely cross the street and head back.
Upon getting back to the apartment, I was greeted outside by a neighbor and her fiance, both of whom had driven by at different times and had seen me walking. Her fiance had actually gone by right before the car hit me, so he knew someone had been hit, and apparently when he described me and the stroller, she knew it was me.
I was appreciative again that someone showed concern and talked to both of them for a few moments.
It's just incredible to me what happened Sunday. I'm grateful I wasn't seriously hurt, but what about all the people who are, or worse, killed because someone didn't pay attention?
We're all so distracted these days too. I no longer look at my phone when I'm driving, but I see plenty of people attempting to look at their phones, or worse, text. I've seen people do things from putting on makeup, eating, or looking for something that they *need*. It's cell phones more than anything that cause issues, but sometimes it's just as simple as someone not paying attention.
The moral of the story is, don't expect people to stop for you. I know, that's a horrible thing to have to say, but it's true. Don't assume that just because you have a signal that you can cross, that everyone is going to wait for you. People are impatient and rude in a lot of cases, and you walking in front of them is a nuisance.
Pay attention to what's going on around you. If you think someone isn't going to wait for you to cross, don't tempt fate. People who are conscious of a pedestrian at a crosswalk will wait for you. They won't go and then stop suddenly. They won't start driving at all until you're out of the street.
I had an incident recently just because I wanted to cross a street. Hopefully you don't have the same thing happen to you.
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