Of course none of this is life-or-death stuff, but:
My daughter called a bit ago to tell me a man had backed into her car while she was pulling out of a parking space at a grocery store. It did no damage to his car, but mashed her bumper (cosmetic only). In spite of the fact that it was obviously his fault, he insisted on calling the police (she’d have been happy to let it go). They were blocking the lane, so they both pulled their cars back into their respective parking spaces.
She sat waiting for the policeman while her ice cream melted all over the floor of her car…and did I mention it’s POURING rain?
All of a sudden another car pulled into the parking space next to her but overshot it and hit the side of her car! She got out in the rain to see what had happened and the driver got out to see how much damage had been done. It’s almost non-existent, she says (although she couldn’t see very well for the rain), so she didn’t ask him to wait for the policeman too.
All that needs to happen now is for lightning to strike the car. Poor girl.
Some years ago we spent about an hour in Durango, CO and had a similar sort of experience. I’m sure it’s a lovely community but we couldn’t get out quick enough.
Remind her that this has all the raw material for an amusing story. It may be a few days before she can appreciate the humor.
She called later to say that the policeman said it was obviously the first guy’s fault and if it wasn’t on private property he’d have received a ticket. After the rain stopped, she inspected the second hit again and found paint scrapes from the 2nd guy’s car. No great harm done, but she definitely felt like there was a target on her car!
Utah drivers: I heard all my life about how terrible California drivers are, then when I moved there discovered they weren’t bad at all. In fact, I had more near-misses or near-hits in the first six months after I moved back to Utah than I did in the three years I was in San Diego. I’ve always believed it has to do with the “nobody is going to tell me what to do” mentality that pervades this state–apparently traffic laws fall into the “no government interference in our lives” attitude that pervades this state. (I read a great line about Utah drivers: “They’re waiting for personal revelation about what the turn signal is for.” heehee)
No kiddin Susan!
I’ve lived in Vancouver, and while I was there, there was a scandal in lower provincial govornment when someone was caught selling driver’s licenses to immigrants who diddn’t know how to drive…the drivers there can be bad, but nowhere near as bad as Utah!
I’ve ridden my motorcycle all over the US and Canada, and nowhere (with the exception of New Jersey) have I found more contrary drivers than Utah.
Edited to add:
P.S. Utah is the only state where I have been run off the road on my motorcycle…twice!
