Public Forum:
Over the last few years my number one driving peeve, among the long list of many other egocentric offensive behaviors on the road, had been right lane passing at controlled intersections. This is not only illegal, and obnoxiously narcissistic, it is extremely dangerous. For some reason I have gladly noticed an improvement in this abhorrent driving practice, but something worse has escalated dramatically. My new driving peeve involves people driving through stop signs - especially in the Tosa East neighborhoods.
Do drivers who already dislike me and see me coming purposefully zoom or roll through the stop, turn in front of me, only to drive 5 mph under the speed limit? It is not worth it. People are running, some with kids in specialized buggies, and kids are racing on bikes and skateboards. Do you want the responsibility of injuring someone on your conscience? In hopes of preventing accidents I wanted to write about my concern months ago as I have witnessed this hazardous practice increasing. I was too late. A nice lady hit my family minivan days before Christmas. I don't know why it happened, but I want to say that we are human, we make mistakes and we are vulnerable to physical blind spots within both eyes and about our vehicles. So stop taking the risk!
My wife and daughters were less than a block from home. Thankfully, I was not in the vehicle. I most likely would have been injured as the door was pushed in front of the glove box; my daughter in my place is very slight and the main impact missed her, and luckily all are well. Though having the right of way at this two-stop intersection, I have been slowing or stopping due to the frequency of near-misses with people blowing the stop sign for a long time. My family is well, but there were many days of dealing with uncaring insurance agents and searching for a comparable vehicle at retail value while getting market value in return. It stinks, and I am sure both parties feel terrible. One way to avoid all this or something worse is to stop taking risks while driving, especially blowing stop signs - please!
John Geertsen
Wauwatosa
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