There are times when the term Blacktop Blockhead doesn’t describe deeply enough the sheer stupidity of some drivers.
I had the misfortune of seeing three such imbeciles last week.
Let us set the scene.
I am driving east down Fifth Avenue, basically in the area between Ospika and Ahbau. I see flashing emergency lights in the westbound lane a few blocks ahead.
There is nobody right behind me, so I signal and start to move toward the curb, even though the emergency vehicle is in the lane furthest from me. The other eastbound vehicles do the same as me, as do the westbound vehicles.
So far, so good. Everyone is observing the law and making sure the emergency vehicle can get where it is going as quickly as possible.
I and the other vehicles on Fifth move back into our lanes after the emergency vehicle passes, and I guess my reporter instincts kick in a bit, as I look in the rearview mirror to see where the emergency vehicle is going when it gets to Ospika.
As it gets to Ospika, I see the brake lights come on. This is unusual, but not unheard of, since the drivers of the emergency vehicles will frequently slow down when coming to an intersection to make sure all the traffic knows they are there.
In this case, though, the emergency vehicle had to come to a full stop, as not one, not two, but three vehicles make a left-hand turn from Ospika onto Fifth, right in front of the emergency vehicle.
I couldn’t believe it.
I could see the first vehicle, if they were partway into the intersection, possibly feeling it was safer for them to complete their turn than to stop without knowing for sure where the emergency vehicle was going.
The second and third vehicles, however, had no excuse whatsoever for blocking the path of the emergency vehicle.
Obviously, the drivers of those vehicles felt that saving a few seconds on their trip was more important than another person’s life.
I was kind of hoping a pedestrian at that intersection was able to get pictures of the license plates of those vehicles and send them to the RCMP so charges could be brought against them.
But probably not.
So while I was very happy with the way 90 per cent of the vehicles on Fifth Avenue reacted to the presence of the emergency vehicle, the completely stupid actions of the trio of idiots left me with a bad taste in my mouth.