Two things...

[conuly]

http://www.freerangekids.com/mom-sees-man-in-school-parking-lot-calls-911-why-did-cops-take-so-long

First, you really want to read that post. It's kinda hilarious, and weeks before April Fools' Day!

Secondly, on a related subject, I happened upon a forum thread elsewhere on the dreaded Letting Your Kids Walk Alone (and why are friends so judgmental, anyway?)

The comments on the thread soon reached hysterical, with one person passionately mentioning a. Adam Walsh b. Etan Patz and c. Jaycee Dugard, and rebutting comments on the risk of driving with "well, if your kid dies in a car accident it probably isn't your fault, but if they get kidnapped while alone it definitely is!"

First, everybody who wishes to convince the rest of us that the world is much less safe than it was, please, get some new references. No, I don't remember Adam or Etan! They were both long dead before I was even born! As for Jaycee Dugard, if you must mention her because she was held captive for 18 years, the key here is "18 years". No fun for her, but it's not exactly indicative of *recent* trends, is it?

To be fair, there are kidnapped children every year. It's not the most common cause of death, not by a long shot, but they do exist. So name somebody kidnapped in the past three years, not somebody who died decades ago.

Secondly, every day I see people driving around who, let's face it, have no business behind the wheel of a car. Half the time, they have at least one child in the back. While I wouldn't be so crass as to say it to their face should they be so unlucky, it isn't at all guaranteed that they would be faultless in the case of a devastating car crash. I see people who think that it's okay to go the wrong way down a street because the other way is teo minutes longer. I see people zoom through stop signs and red lights, turning onto a major thoroughfare without even a cursory check of the safety of this. Every single day I see another person who ignored the stop line on the hill near me, never thought to ask why it's so far down the road, and then frantically tried to back up (with a dozen cars behind doing the same thing!) because if you're parked at the top of the hill there's no space for the bus to turn, as it does only six or seven times an hour. Or they want to make a turn, so they bolt into the bus lane six inches in front of the bus. Yes, in a fight between you and the bus, you'll be the one who wins.

And every one of these people thinks they're a good driver. They're not. They're just lucky. Staten Island is awful when it comes to drivers, but can other places be that much better?

For their own kids, and for the well being and peace of mind of just about everybody else, I strongly want every one of them to walk more, drive less. Even unattended, it has got to be safer for the kids than being in a car with some of them. Stranger abductions are rare. Spend enough time walking around during the school rush, and you'll know why car accidents are so much more common.

Comments

[conuly]

Hah, here's one. My sister was walking with the girls and came to a sidewalk. The car was facing the street, and the back door was open because somebody was getting in. That car is going nowhere for a minute, so my sister continued walking.

The idiot driver dropped something, bent down to pick it up, stepped on the gas, and lurched forward several feet, narrowly missing Jenn. The woman, sitting up and seeing that she is inexplicably closer to the street, went "Oh, sorry!"

0.o

Seeing Jenn's shocked face and dumbstruck expression, the woman started screeching at her - at her! - that she SAID sorry and it was an ACCIDENT, whereupon her friend told her to shut up, basically. My sister never said anything.

[conuly]

Driveway, not sidewalk. They were on the sidewalk already.

[marveen.livejournal.com]

LOL. I read it as written, since Out Hyere Inna Stix you do indeed "come to" a sidewalk.

And, y'know, anyone who didn't already live there would report that as "New York Manners". Like the account I read from whatsisname, Bosworth, the Seattle Seahawk that wasn't.

He whined about how in Seattle, people took everything so PERSONALLY, whereas in New York City (paraphrasing), "...you walk down the sidewalk and this guys says 'Fuck you!' and you say back 'Fuck you too, buddy!' There's nothing personal in it, y'know?"

[conuly]

I stand firm in my convictions that the reality is that here in NY we are, as a group, the nicest people you'll ever meet. Sometimes a bit forthright, but if you don't want to be cursed out you shouldn't go slow in the fast lane.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

As a group, the nicest people I've ever met were in Iowa, and I never even lived there; was just passing through. The Midwest has the best manners in the country; neither the East Coast nor the West holds a candle - I can't say anything about the South or the Southwest, not having spent enough time there to form a fair opinion. On the other hand, the Midwest is undeniably provincial - though not as provincial as the West outside the major coastal cities.

I liked New York a lot, and had a lot of fun there; there are definitely things I still miss after all these years, and people I remember fondly. I don't think the people of NY are any worse as human beings than any other assortment of people - good and bad, kind and cruel, honest and crooked; it all pretty-much balances out. However, in terms of culture, I have to say, New York has a far higher tolerance for egregious public rudeness than any other American city I've seen.

[conuly]

I don't know, I've heard a lot of people complain that sometimes Midwest politeness rules can hide a lot of under the surface rudeness and passive aggressive behavior. But I don't know, not actually being that well traveled.

[conuly]

Of course, don't kid yourself here, New Yorkers can be as provincial as everybody else. I don't really know why we pretend we aren't, actually.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

LOL, yeah, I'd have to walk a quarter-mile or so in order to come to a sidewalk.

It's not just people who haven't lived there who would report that as "New York manners". And yes, compared to New York, or to any of the other major cities of the East, Seattle is a bastion of courtesy and neighborliness, where people passing on the street actually acknowledge each others' existence, and where shrieking threats and obscenities at strangers is not regarded as normal, acceptable behavior.

Of course, Seattle IS still a city, and worse, it's a city that gets a lot of California visitors and immigrants. Between California drivers and New York drivers, there's not much to choose (unless there's snow, of course *shudders*) but the Californians don't tend to curse other drivers out as much, because that's a good way to get shot. If whatsisname Bosworth thinks people in Seattle take things too personally, he ought to try saying "Fuck you" to guys on the sidewalk in L.A.