How about Stopping?

Our house is very close to a four-way stop. While I was washing the windows in the living room this past Saturday, I watched as two dozen or so cars, moved through the intersection within 10 minutes. Of those two dozen cars, four vehicles made complete stops.

A hundred years ago,when I was taking driver training in high school, my instructor told the class, "Come to a complete stop and count to three. Then look both ways and proceed slowly on your way." Back then, a stop meant just that. The vehicle is not moving when it is stopped. He warned us about doing a California stop. "Never Do A California Stop", he yelled at us.

While my wife and I were walking to a restaurant, we paused at a cross walk while a car came to a stop. I thought it was a stop. It was supposed to be a stop. The car had a stop light. That means the car was supposed to stop. We stepped down to the street and proceeded to walk to the other side. I turned to see that the driver of the car who was supposed to be stopped, was looking at traffic coming from her left. Her car was moving ever so slowly as we walked past the front end of her car.

Then she stepped on the gas as we were just clearing her bumper. At the last nanosecond, she slammed on the brakes. There was a threads thickness between her bumper and my wife's leg.

My wife yelled,"What are you doing?"
She answered, "It has been one of those days."
And if she had hit us, it was surely going to be one of those days.
As my wife and I stared at the driver, she said, "Have a nice day!"
Have a nice day? Was she on drugs? If she had hit us, our day would not have been nice. It would have been rather bad. And hospital food is not great.
This driver was not looking both ways. She may have seen us but running us over does not make me feel all fuzzy. If her day had been one of those days, then I'm sorry.
She should have come to a complete stop and waited while we crossed. She should not have tried to run us down.
I wish all drivers would come to full stops.
I wish all drivers would use seat belts.
I wish all drivers who talk on cell phones while driving, would not.
I wish I could use a cross-walk without fearing for my life.
What will it take for us to change?
It is just a matter of time before two cars meet in the intersection near my house. Someone will be seriously injured. Then new laws will be passed and not enforced. And everyone in the neighborhood will drive slower and stop at all stop signs, for a while. Then when we have forgotten about the damaged or lost lives, we will go back to our old way of driving and not stopping.