Bad Parking

After attending my Friday early evening AA meeting where the discussion topic was tolerance, I drove home.  The short drive is a little more complicated than the usual 10 mile due north scoot up a main north-south route as a result of road resurfacing.  Friday, I jogged a little east to continue north.  My cell phone rang as it usually does following the meeting with the BSL or one of my teens telling me what our supper plans were.  Friday being, Yom Kippur,  I was aware that we had to eat before sundown, so I was particularly alert to learn the plans.

I was driving my daughter's Korean coupe (there's another story in there which I will spare you);  I'm not familiar with her sporty little car and I confess I did not drive along as cleanly in my lane of travel as I should have.  I noticed a perturbed driver in the curb lane coming from behind me trying to pass me on my right. He had to avoid my swerve into his lane. 

Clearly I was at fault and I made the customary mea culpa gesture.  As we approached the light, it was evident to me that the other driver was not satisfied and had more to say to me, I think it was his one finger gesture and mouthing of the word "asshole" which in my experience nearly everyone can lip read.  I rolled down my passenger window to absorb additional abuse and invective.  He made three quick points: "[I am] a f*%$#g Asshole;" I should not drive and talk on the phone; and I should not inconsiderately drive in two lanes simultaneously. I assured my fellow driver that he was correct that I had driven poorly and I agreed that I should not have used my cellphone when I did.  I informed him that contrary to his belief, I was not a "f*%$#g Asshole;" and I told him that he might want to reconsider this approach to interacting with other drivers who enrage him in and around OurTown, as in some cases it might impact his life expectancy.  My wisdom on these three quick points did not seem to make much impact on him so I drove on.

I am reminded of this by way of noticing that an Athens, Ga. driver felt it appropriate to express his frustration with a man holding a child standing in a parking space he wished to pull into, by hitting them.  Here's Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Alexis Stevens' account:

An Athens man wanted a parking spot bad enough to hit two people with his car to get it, police said.

Ross Campbell, of Statham, was standing in a parking spot holding his 3-year-old son when Richard Junkins pulled up in a Ford Mustang, Athens-Clarke County police said Sunday.

'Campbell refused to move and Junkins, after an exchange of words, continued pulling in the space,'  police spokeswoman Hilda Sorrow said in a statement.

Junkins hit the man and the child, causing them both to land on the hood of his car, police said. Neither Campbell nor his son was injured in the incident Saturday afternoon, police said.  Junkins was arrested and charged with two counts of aggravated assault, according to police. He later posted $22,020 bond and was released, a jail spokesman said.
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I swear, the primal brain kicks-in when man is behind the wheel of an automobile.  It's nuts.