DailyHeights

Or, why all cell phones should be banned behind the wheel (Exhibit Z/umpteen)

At 2:15 Monday afternoon, on Prospect Place between Vanderbilt and Underhill, SCREEEEECH, BAM!!!! It sounded like two cars jockeying for position at top speed had collided – not surprising, given the awful tendency of vehicles in this neighborhood to drag-race down our double-wide blocks. Except in this case, actually only one car had been moving when the whole thing went down. The other vehicle was just parked, quietly and legally, on the street.

A VW Passat driven by a 30s-40s-ish woman in a suit, on her way to a meeting (possibly a court date), simply drifted, going at least 25MPH, into an Econoline van sitting idle on the right side of the street.

I work from home, and when I heard the crash right outside my window, I feared the worst. Thank Jebus, no one was hurt, but in a way the accident was all the more maddening: there was no other traffic for the driver to avoid, no double-parked cars (alternate side had ended hours earlier). I stepped outside to investigate but tried not to get too involved, since the cops were on their way.

Neither the van owner, who was understandably hopping mad, nor I could confirm it, but the woman had her ear surgically attached to a cell phone ever since emerging from the Passat, and he and I both suspected she was yammering on the cell when she lost control of the car. No other explanation seems logical. For her part, the woman muttered some embarrassed semi-apologies but didn’t explain her behavior. (Bill Cosby’s favorite teenager answer, “I dunno…,” made a couple of appearances.)

The woman was getting an earful from the van owner, and I wanted to show her some compassion; so I asked if she was okay. She said yes, appreciatively. She certainly didn’t dodge the accident and called both the cops and, I think, her insurance company.

The karmic justice is that her Passat ended up far more damaged than his van, although his rear tire was squashed, his side panel bruised and his side mirror totaled. More than feeling pissed at her, I feel pissed that this city still allows cell phone activity in cars at all.