I still see his face iin my mind.

[Ryooshi]

I will start off by saying that no one was hurt, but I'll never get his face out of my mind.

Driving up the main road (5 lanes) of my city at night, I'm doing the defensive driving thing while we pass a darkened part of the road. Darkened because instead of a storefront it was a car dealership that had closed hours earlier and the only lights on were the basics in the building. I see a shadow jump near the building and realize there are people in the dark parking lot. Foot off gas and hovering at brake since my city is notorious for jaywalkers and idiots. (They actually made it law that if you are jaywalking and get hit, you are responsible for the damages on the car.) *Lo and behold I see a skateboard roll out in front of me. Shadow makes sense and I hit my brakes as a teen runs into the road in front of me and grabs the board, THEN looks up and I see the deer in the headlights look.*

My hubby hadn't even seen him until he was in front of us. Hell, I didn't even see him until then.

So who teaches their kids that a stupid little skateboard is more important than their life?*

[wagegoth]

There were some kids waiting at a bus stop one night running their skateboards back and forth with one foot while they waited. I was paranoid the whole time I was at the stoplight because I kept expecting a board to get loose and either the board or a kid end up injured.

[Lyse]

The same ones that think it is a good idea to drag their kids along while they jaywalk across multiple lanes of busy traffic? I see this constantly.

[bhskittykatt]

Had this happen during broad daylight for us. We were coming up at an intersection downtown. Hubby had a big old F150 or F250...I can't remember....the point is it was a big, heavy truck, and it looked like hell (rusty, missing most of the front grille...'twas a beater).

Just as we approached the intersection, a skateboarder came zooming across in front of us, going at a good speed since it was downhill. They saw the truck, fell off the skateboard, and the board came to a rest right beside Hubby's truck tire. Meanwhile, Hubby braked HARD, and I got a nice choking by the seatbelt.

Yeah...roll out in front of the beat-up truck that obviously doesn't care if it gets one more person-sized dent in it. That's a smart move...

[Flying Grype]

Hell, they told me on Sesame Street not to run out into the road after a toy... guess it's been a while since they watched.

[AccountingDrone]

I wish it was a ticketable offense to walk or bicycle after dark in dark clothing and without reflective stuff. Last night on the way home from Hartford I almost flattened some guy walking on the road dressed in black out in the country where there are no street lamps. Idiot gave me the finger. He should have been walking on the other side of the road facing traffic and wearing something reflective and hopefully carrying a flashlight.

[Pixilated]

In all fairness, Ryooshi, it might not have been the result of stupid parents ... just the all-too-common teen "tunnel vision" combined with their sense of invincibility.

That must've given you both an awful fright. Hopefully the idiot learned a lesson by it, but I don't know if I'd bet the rent money on that.

I wish it was a ticketable offense to walk or bicycle after dark in dark clothing and without reflective stuff. Last night on the way home from Hartford I almost flattened some guy walking on the road dressed in black out in the country where there are no street lamps. Idiot gave me the finger. He should have been walking on the other side of the road facing traffic and wearing something reflective and hopefully carrying a flashlight.

I know the police have more than enough to do already, but yeah, I agree with this. In my city it's not even just kids: when I was still working at the paper, I would get home around midnight and it wasn't unusual to see (eventually) adults cycling along -- dark clothes on the person, NO reflectors at all on the bicycle. Yeah, there's streetlights, you moron, but there are also long stretches with no streetlights and a driver who's tired or distracted or drunk might not even see you until the split second before you go under their wheels.

[dalesys]

I want the reflectors and strobe lights on the open range cows in Skull Valley!

(This leopard has needed to change his shorts)

[sms001]

I'm doing the defensive driving thing while we pass a darkened part of the road.

Nice work! I vaguely remember that an instance like this was part of some education TV bit I saw once. Scene was driving down a 'burban street, then a pause and you were supposed to identify five things you should have been wary of. One of them, of course, a bunch of kids playing with a ball in front of a house to the right. They don't "change gears" fast enough when they should be transitioning from playing somewhere safe to going into the street. Glad you were looking out for them.

I wish it was a ticketable offense to walk or bicycle after dark in dark clothing and without reflective stuff.

I do too. Maybe just the law being out there, enforced or not, would save some lives.

That said (and don't let this go to Fratching!) I wouldn't participate. I'm a life-long bicyclist, and have had way more close calls from people who could see me and WANTED to hit me than I have from being as near invisible as possible and staying away from them.

[PepperElf]

So who teaches their kids that a stupid little skateboard is more important than their life?*

like the kid i saw who was biking in the dark, in the rain, without a headlight, and without a helmet?

[Evandril]

Most kids in their teens or under are invicible, so of course it's safe to do whatever! *rolls eyes*

I'd prefer to have the law state that if you're not wearing reflective gear, you are liable for any accidents caused, with the appropriate disclaimers to keep people from trying to run them down.

[Ryooshi]

The law for reflectives would be great, but the ticket would have been moot. By the time he was in front of my car he was crouched, I would have hit him in the shoulder/ head area and over him. Thanks to local law it wouldn't be my fault, but he wouldn't have been around to point fingers. I would actually prefer that there were street lights in that area like the rest of the street. I'm sure the car dealership finds them unattractive.

[XCashier]

Most kids in their teens or under are invicible, so of course it's safe to do whatever! *rolls eyes*

Yes, they do. Saw two such idiots dart through traffic yesterday. Both wearing dark clothes, under a bridge on an overcast day, and giving me the shit-eating grin when I hit my brakes before hitting them.

They're damned lucky I did see them. Even my little car would've dealt them some nasty injuries. Next time they might not be so lucky.

[Merriweather]

I wish it was a ticketable offense to walk or bicycle after dark in dark clothing and without reflective stuff. .

In a lot of states bicycles must follow the "laws of the road", meaning they can be ticketed for going against traffic, not stopping at lights or stop signs, and for not having lights after dark. Yeah, some pedestrian laws wouldn't hurt, either.