An Ode to Drivers and Pedestrians

Those who know me in real life will attest of how much I talk about my car Minx, or Minxie, when she’s being a particular vixen.  Minxie’s the source of my financial woes.  Since getting her less than four months ago, she depleted my savings account to the point that I can no longer buy books on a whim—something I consider as a necessity before clearly became a luxury. She also drinks fuel like alcoholics would down bottle after another of their favorite drink. 

Minxie is also famous for her snobbery—she tends to act up when she doesn’t like the passenger.  So far, it has only happened to one person, who also happens to be my soul sister and we’re constantly together.  So when there are night-outs and outings and she happens to be my passenger, something would always happen to Minx.  A busted wiper, a wiper would suddenly breakoff, alarms wouldn’t go off, gutters would rise from their usual positions, a burning smell would take over the car—you get the idea.  At one point or another, my feisty Minx would display her anger at being subjected to my friend’s presence.  I, however, gave her (the car) a severe talking down and she seemed to cower. Yet I am to invite my friend for a ride as I’m actually scared of what would happen next.

Yes, this post has a point.  Despite my ramblings about how Minx inhales the contents of my wallet for her upgrade, maintenance, and fuel, I love her.  She gives me freedom to go wherever I want, and go there with whomever I want to go with (except my sister from a parallel universe.  I think Minxie is jealous of our friendship, so Minx is trying to boot out my friend from the equation).  She stops me from drinking too much (or from drinking at all) and staying up too late.  Most of all, she made me realize how precious life is, and why I shouldn’t indulge in road rage. 

With that, I would like toshare these nuggets of wisdom for drivers and pedestrians, to make traveling better:

For Drivers:

·  A red light means stop, a yellow means a warning.  The yellow doesn’t mean that you have to floor your pedal to beat the red. It means “Slow down, hotshot.  The light’s about to turn red, and you could get in a vehicular accident if you insist on going fast instead of stopping when the other lane’s given the signal to go.”

·       If you see a signal light blinking in your peripheral vision, it means that the driver is asking politely to join your lane.  Do not take that as an insult toyour masculinity.  Slow down, and let the car pass.  After all, the driver asked politely.

·        Likewise, signal your intent if you want to transfer lanes.  Do not suddenly cut in front of another vehicle.  What if the driver behind you was PMSing and would rather hit your bumper than to let you pass?  It’s called Road Courtesy: as a driver you should be proficient in that language

·        Again, on joining lanes.  If you’re a jeepney or taxi driver who wants to un/load passengers, please go to the right most lane.  Do not stop in the middle of the street amidst the beeping horns of the other vehicles. Or else you will be cursed by the driver you inconvenience to hell and back.  You may not hear the ramblings, ofcourse, but please feel bad that you’re causing your fellow drivers distress

·        Repeat after me: I will not toot my horn for no particular reason.  During bumper to bumper traffic, tooting your horn wouldn’t get you to your destination faster.  You will only annoy yourself,and sooner or later another driver would knock on your window, and punch the living daylights out of you.

·        For the drivers of buses and trucks, please use your side-mirrors.  Given Minxie’s slight build, she’s often bullied by big vehicles.  Please be nice to small cars.  Otherwise I will call my Kuya and Dad, who both drive racing cars.  You may not be into racing, but they’re going to make you wish you were nicer to that small Honda Jazz.

·        Lastly, for motorcycles, when drivers tell you to go ahead, please do not stop, pretend to let the car pass, only to go when the car’s moving.  Trust me, you WILL get hit if you insist on doing this. When a car stops in front of you and the driver waves you to go, please go.  And please have the courtesy to say thank you, or at least wave a hand in gratitude. 

For Pedestrians:

·      The pedestrian lane is made for a reason.  Please use it.

·      Even though the street is devoid of traffic and there’s only one car on the road, please check how fast the car is going first before crossing the road.  Chances are, if the car is going 120 km/h and you decided to walk leisurely in front of it, you will be hit. 

·        Please do not use the road as a meeting place for you and your friends.  Walk a few steps further and you’ll be on a sidewalk. That place is safer.

·        If you do decide to cross the road, please do it accordingly.  Do not pretend that you’re on a date while crossing the street and kiss your partner while cars are honking their horns for the two of you to please get off the road and get a room.

·        Do not take baby steps when crossing the road.  You are interrupting drivers who have somewhere to go.

·        When you suddenly ran on the street, a car screeches in front of you, and the driver yells at you for “WHAT THE FUCK, MAN!” do not be angry.  Understand that you weren’t supposed to ran down the street anyway, and you were a hair’s breath away from being slaughtered.

·        Lastly, please use pedestrian lanes.  I cannot stress this enough.  You will save both yourself and the driver the agony of getting you in the hospital and making sure you’re fine.  How hard is it to look for those white horizontal lines on every street anyway? T_T

That being said, I shall now log off before you pepper me with your insults. While a driver may be a sweet lover, a driver could also be a murderer if he hits another person unintentionally. So please, let’s make the road safe for everybody. J

Toodles~

 P.S.

Again, as blogging is my form of rebellion against tyranny and grammar dogs, I shall post this without editing.  But if my friend the grammar nazi finds mistakes, well.. I'll have to update it to incorporate her changes. ^_^ 

My Minx getting a bath