[PLUG] PLUG meeting

Jeme A Brelin jeme at brelin.net
Fri Dec 6 23:56:26 UTC 2002


On 6 Dec 2002, AthlonRob wrote:
> On Fri, 2002-12-06 at 02:52, Josh Zeckser wrote:
> > Yeah, no kidding. I am a lot more scared of the people driving the cars
> > than I am of the people on the bus. People on the bus can't just
> > accidentally kill someone just by not paying attention.
> 
> You mean... except for the bus driver, right?

While admitting that there are bus drivers who don't always make the very
best decisions with regard to their behavior in traffic, I think it's very
important to point out that a bus driver is AT WORK behind the wheel.  
The driver is not rushing to get to work and (hopefully, of course)
concentrating on doing the job at hand with all the dilligence and care
that you or I would take to carry out the duties of our chosen profession.

The driver is not in a rush (the schedules are amply padded and
reasonable) and the route, including lane changes, is predetermined.

I think there are many reasons to believe that a bus driver is far less
likely to stop paying attention on a given trip than a personal vehicle
operator.

Hell, I was walking down the sidewalk a while back and a woman drove out
of a parking lot (on her daily commute, clearly) and nearly ran into me as
I crossed the lot's egress.  I shouted (mostly out of fear -- a fight or
flight response), "Watch it!"
She had her window down and laughed, saying, "I wasn't paying attention."  
She thought it was very amusing that she lost her concentration so
thoroughly.
I replied, in the most snide tone I could muster, "Heh heh!  That's really
funny.  It's not like you could kill someone with that or anything."

A second anecdote.
Whilst riding my bicycle a few weeks ago, a woman changed lanes without
signalling and nearly ran me off the road.  I caught up to her window at
the light and said, "You realize you could kill somebody with that
thing."
She was a middle-aged woman driving an SUV.  She looked pale at my comment
and said, "I sure hope not."
I said, "You're pushing a ton of steel around with that gas pedal.  Even
at low speed, that's more force than you need to squish a human being
flat."
She apologized and said she never thought of it that way.

Last Tuesday, I saw her staring out the window of the 70 bus on the same
route at about the same time of day.

J.
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     Jeme A Brelin
    jeme at brelin.net
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