Too much road rage
I just heard on the news about a boy being run over by a bus in Broward County; a bus he was trying to catch! This reminded me of what I saw last week right here in Coconut Grove.
I was in my car, stopped at the light at 27th and Aviation, facing the BP station, going west. I watched as the bus came down the block, from the US1 direction and it raced by a guy who was trying to board it! They guy was at the BP station under a tree, trying to stay out of the hot sun, as the bus approached, he came out to the street with plenty of time and put his hand up to stop the bus. The bus just kept on going!
I know the driver saw him, there was no way not to see him. But apparently the bus driver felt that the dude should be standing at attention waiting for the bus and not run out from the shade to catch the bus. I tried to get the number of the bus to report it, but he was too busy illegally speeding down SW 27 Avenue for me to get the info.
What the hell is wrong with people? What's with all the road rage?
Ever try to cross the street from the Coconut Grove Bank parking lot to get to the Bookstore or anywhere on Florida Avenue? It's a game in futility trying to dodge cars speeding down Mary Street. There is no courtesy, no one lets anyone cross the street, you can stand out there all day, and not one car will stop or slow down to let people cross.
While I don't always like these speed traps or cops who hide around the corners to see if people go through stop signs, it really is needed there.
I was in my car, stopped at the light at 27th and Aviation, facing the BP station, going west. I watched as the bus came down the block, from the US1 direction and it raced by a guy who was trying to board it! They guy was at the BP station under a tree, trying to stay out of the hot sun, as the bus approached, he came out to the street with plenty of time and put his hand up to stop the bus. The bus just kept on going!
I know the driver saw him, there was no way not to see him. But apparently the bus driver felt that the dude should be standing at attention waiting for the bus and not run out from the shade to catch the bus. I tried to get the number of the bus to report it, but he was too busy illegally speeding down SW 27 Avenue for me to get the info.
What the hell is wrong with people? What's with all the road rage?
Ever try to cross the street from the Coconut Grove Bank parking lot to get to the Bookstore or anywhere on Florida Avenue? It's a game in futility trying to dodge cars speeding down Mary Street. There is no courtesy, no one lets anyone cross the street, you can stand out there all day, and not one car will stop or slow down to let people cross.
While I don't always like these speed traps or cops who hide around the corners to see if people go through stop signs, it really is needed there.
posted by Tom Falco at 10:00 AM
YOU MAY NOT LIFT THE PHOTOS & TEXT. IT'S COPYRIGHTED INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. YOU CAN HOWEVER SHARE A STORY ON SOCIAL MEDIA BY USING THE LINKS HERE.
For linking to this one story, just click on the time it was posted & just this story will open for sharing - only through social media. Not copying and pasting.
12 Comments:
Try crossing main highway by St. Hugh. That's a challenge...
been clipped by mirrors twice. Only once the driver stopped to curse at me for "not crossing carefully" on a pedestrian crosswalk...
The grove needs bridge crossings like vegas has
try crossing Oak Avenue and Mary Street at any time, it is a nightmare...today around noon a car almost sent a father and a child riding on a bicycle off in the air, the driver didn't make a full stop and barely missing hitting the rear wheel of the bicycle, the cyclist had to speed up to avoid being hit, the driver had the nerves to honk at the cyclist!
We need to outlaw bicycles in the grove there to much fun lke clubs and cruising
Driving gets worse in the summer months down here, Miami has become a very stressful town to live in on top of that being the lowest paying yet a very expensive metropolitan area in the nation and an economy that runs only on snowbirds, their highly taxed non represented residences and tourists making bulk of the residents less essential to public representatives and leadership. People need to realize the realities, the only nice thing down here are the winters and autumns for the rest of the year you just need to hibernate.
This is what happens when you overpopulate an area without seeing to the existing infrastructure. A local government so greedy for cash they ignored the issues, literally, down the road. Now we have thousands more people comming here daily, unfamiliar with our roads, many of whom are just leaving one of our many bars while texting their friends to meet them at another bar.
Perhaps we just need a couple more of those purposely confusing fake stop signs that are actually ped-xing signs that all the tourists and drunk drivers can't figure out.
More police isn't the cure. We currently have an over abundance of police in the Grove and the traffic and crime are still a huge issue. How about the bartenders stop serving a person when they see they can barely walk. I've had more shit-faced people stumble into the the street as I drive through the Grove than I can count. Next to them is the completely oblivious texter walking out into the road or (my personal favorite) texting on their bike or just texting while rolling a stop sign at Mary where Tigertail turns into Oak.
A ticketing campaign from the police force will only make money for the cops and cause locals not to want to visit and punish the tourists for being confused. I think a better idea would be a campaign for situational awareness and Put. Down. The. Damned. Phone!
They should put a Police officer to watch all the cars that fail to stop at Crosswalks. That would be a nice earner.
It has absolutely NOTHING to do with drink drivers. Many Miami drivers do not adhere to basic traffic laws, such as using turn signals to change lanes or turn corners. Drivers often run red lights. Miami would have a budget surplus if it simply gave out more traffic tickets. We see drivers speeding down our roads every day near Kumquat/Loquat and we are very GRATEFUL for the police presence. If you don't want to observe U.S. traffic laws, don't drive here. That is not anti-immigrant, by the way. I love immigrants; my husband is an immigrant. I don't like people who drive as if traffic lights have no meaning and as if no one cares if they kill or maim other people with their terrible driving. Check out the recent New Times article. Many other people are furious about the horrific driving we see in Miami.
Thank you, police officers, who attempt to keep reckless, selfish drivers from running over children, adults, and pets. I see perfectly sober people breaking the law at 8:00 a.m. in the morning. Our city has been rated as having the rudest drivers in the USA. It is also one of the most dangerous for pedestrians. I will happily vote for a mayor who will institute a zero tolerance for traffic violations. My name is Laura; I am a Grove resident. If I ever move from Miami, it will be due to selfish, homicidal drivers such as I see each and every day on the roads in Coconut Grove and throughout the city.
By the way, if you find the pedestrian crossing signs confusing, you are driving TOO FAST to read the signs and you need to slow down.
Anyone who thinks there are too many police in the Grove needs to look at the crime statistics including the recent shooting/killing on Charles Terrace. More police is a cure. They are the reason why people speed at 40 miles per hour down my street instead of 50. Thank you, police officers, for stopping people and giving out tickets. They are local saints. Police turned around crime in NYC in the 1990's and they can certainly do it here. Simply by enforcing existing laws. If everyone observed the basic traffic laws, this would not be a topic for discussion on the Grapevine. (If you don't believe this, travel to almost any other city in the developed world and you will see that driving is hugely more civilized and that the police police driving, i.e., come down hard on people and don't hesitate to ticket or arrest offenders).
Guess what? Other major cities, such as Atlanta, Houston, and Vancouver, do not have run-away road rage. Why? Because they do not have laissez-faire drivers who have 0 concern about running over your children or mine.
What are we doing to do? Give up? Move out, as so many have done? Just get enraged? Or demand that ALL Miami residents observe the laws or get tickets (or jail time) as a consequence? I don't care where you came from; I'm happy you're here and contributing to our city. But if you speed or cut people off or endanger pedestrians, you should be stopped and ticketed. As often as it takes. Until you learn your lesson or get your license taken away.
I live right by St Hugh's School and its appalling how motorists zoom down Main Highway at 50mph. Saturday I waited about 5 minutes before they stopped to let me cross, AT THE CROSSWALK mind you and then I came inches from another motorist making a left turn from Franklin onto Main Highway. (Totally illegal! That's a right turn only lane) He totally didn't see me. Completely oblivious. He was at least 8 inches from my body and was totally speeding as he made the turn. It's barbaric.
How about people cross at a crosswalk and stop j-walking.
get rid of bicycles uve gotten rid of everything else
12:33,
You're right, Miami would have a bigger budget if they gave more tickets. But that doesn't mean the roads would be any safer.
Hundreds of tickets are given out in Dade county every day yet we still have problem drivers.
Most people simply pay the ticket, look at as an expensive inconvenience and don't change their behavior.
Until people learn personal responsibility, police won't help with this situation.
Post a Comment
<< Home