Update on last week’s ‘Fatality Free Friday’ community awareness campaign that focuses on road safety etc…
5 fatalities occurred on Fatality Free Friday (last Friday 22/05/09).
But they’re calling it a success because normally they expect to see 5.3 fatalities on Australian roads on an average Friday. So yay for that 0.3 of a person who survived last Friday. 😐 Still… as a concept I personally think it’s like putting the mockers on someone. Superstitious BS on my part but… there you have it.
On a slightly related topic….
Last night we were driving to Eleven-17 (favourite local restaurant du jour) for dinner and were driving along Wynnum Road where the Gateway passes over it. There are FIVE lanes under that overpass… the two right most lanes are turning lanes to turn onto the Gateway northbound and the other three lanes all continue in a westerly direction towards the city. I was in the centre of these three lanes about two cars back while stopped at a red light.
Just as the lights turned green… some complete and utter moron came flying up the right hand side – WHICH IS A TURNING LANE THAT GOES ONTO THE GATEWAY – and absolutely caned it (he was damn near flying) to race to get in front of the traffic going towards town instead. He barely made it… if the car taking off from the lights had been going slightly faster or if he hadn’t braked to let the wanker in… he would have either ploughed directly into the median strip (and at that speed he would have taken out most of the road furniture and possibly even rolled his vehicle) or he would have had to swing hard to the right which would have thrown him in front of three lanes of oncoming traffic.
It was quite simply one of the most stupid fucking things I have ever seen someone do on the roads in 20 years I have been driving. I just couldn’t believe anyone would do anything so dangerous and downright imbecilic… and to what end? SO HE COULD GET TO HIS DESTINATION MAYBE 30 SECONDS FASTER!?!?!? Fuck you prick!
It has totally freaked me out all over again. I don’t want to get in the car. I don’t want to share the road with these people of obviously defficient intelligence. I don’t want to drive…. anywhere… ever again! I quite deliberately had a couple of wines with dinner so I wouldn’t have to drive home. But then this morning it’s unavoidable. I had to take the Small Child to school and to me – it feels like everyone on the road is potentially going to do something unbelievably stupid which could result in screeching brakes and the sickening crunch of twisted metal.
Just on our way to dinner. Nothing special about that. Nothing remarkable at all. But we very nearly saw a horrible disaster unfold right in front of us. And all I could think was – it doesn’t matter how good… or how vigilant… or how careful… or how responsible… or how smart YOU are when you’re behind the wheel – there’s always the possiblity that some totally brain dead delusional fuckwit out there (who thinks he’s invincible) that will do something so unbelievably stupid and ill conceived… that could fuck up your life up forever.
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