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I'm usually one to roll my eyes at stupid drivers and go on with life, but this one scared my little brother in the back seat, and that's crossing a line that I cannot allow to be crossed. So here for your enjoyment is the letter I just sent to an armored truck company. My additional comments, not included in the formal email, are in parentheses.
I thought you'd like to know what one of your armored truck teams did on July 8, at about 12:58pm. The truck was numbered XXXX, and it was making a stop at a shop at Fancy Mall in My City. It's an outdoor mall so we're not entirely sure what store they were stopping at, but it seemed like Skater Wear. We were driving west along the mall's main road, which is a single lane in each direction with no curbside parking, and the Your Company truck was headed east. The westbound side of the road was closer to the stores, so when the truck came to its destination, the driver simply dove into our lane and came to a stop. It was so sudden that my husband had to brake hard to avoid hitting the truck that was now parked head-on in the westbound driving lane. After taking a moment to check for oncoming traffic, my husband slowly began to drive on the wrong side of the street to pass the parked armored truck. (My husband was about 95% certain we were about to be hit, and he stomped on the brake so hard because he wanted to be sure they hit a stopped vehicle, not a moving one, for insurance purposes. I'm not sure it really matters, but I appreciate his quick decision-making meant to protect our family's assets and whatnot. Ok, back to the letter.)
As we passed, the passenger side door suddenly flew open and an employee jumped out of the truck into the middle of the street, only a few feet in front of our vehicle. (The husband said he had an empty cash bag in hand, but I didn't see that, so I left it out. Until the street-side door opened, we thought they must be making an emergency cash delivery, or responding to a break-in or something, and for some reason needed to exit the driver-side of the truck. You know... something urgent and rational.) This forced us to slam on the brakes a second time to avoid hitting the truck door and the employee. The employee then charged around the front of the Your Company truck, basically running straight at our vehicle, as he made his way to the store, which frightened me quite badly. I know armored truck employees often carry weapons, and this team doesn't even know how to park or open a door safely, so I doubt they can tell the difference between a security threat and a frightened family trying to get away from them.
By the time we parked at our intended store, maybe an eighth of a mile away, the driver had whipped around and parked in the same position, only heading the right direction this time. The two-lane road seems too narrow for that large a vehicle to make a U-turn so I frankly have no idea how the driver accomplished that. (Even I can't make a U-turn there, and I drive a CR-V that can do donuts on most of our narrower residential streets. My personal guess is that they hopped up on the curbs on both sides, and likely wiped out some of the plants in the curbside flower beds.) I did not feel safe having to cross the street to go to the mall, in front of the truck that was now pointed towards us even though it was several store-fronts down, simply because the team had already demonstrated a dangerous level of inattention to their surroundings.
I also didn't bother to mention, but from the look on their faces, the driver and the delivery employee both were completely shocked to find any traffic at all around them, much less in their way as they went obliviously about their business. It really didn't seem to occur to them that anybody would be at a mall at 1pm on a Sunday afternoon. Also at my brother's request, even though our shopping only took a couple minutes, we hung around in the store until the truck drove off instead of returning straight to our car and leaving. And he lives in Los Angeles, so it takes a lot to scare him off the road. Usually I get scared first!
I thought you'd like to know what one of your armored truck teams did on July 8, at about 12:58pm. The truck was numbered XXXX, and it was making a stop at a shop at Fancy Mall in My City. It's an outdoor mall so we're not entirely sure what store they were stopping at, but it seemed like Skater Wear. We were driving west along the mall's main road, which is a single lane in each direction with no curbside parking, and the Your Company truck was headed east. The westbound side of the road was closer to the stores, so when the truck came to its destination, the driver simply dove into our lane and came to a stop. It was so sudden that my husband had to brake hard to avoid hitting the truck that was now parked head-on in the westbound driving lane. After taking a moment to check for oncoming traffic, my husband slowly began to drive on the wrong side of the street to pass the parked armored truck. (My husband was about 95% certain we were about to be hit, and he stomped on the brake so hard because he wanted to be sure they hit a stopped vehicle, not a moving one, for insurance purposes. I'm not sure it really matters, but I appreciate his quick decision-making meant to protect our family's assets and whatnot. Ok, back to the letter.)
As we passed, the passenger side door suddenly flew open and an employee jumped out of the truck into the middle of the street, only a few feet in front of our vehicle. (The husband said he had an empty cash bag in hand, but I didn't see that, so I left it out. Until the street-side door opened, we thought they must be making an emergency cash delivery, or responding to a break-in or something, and for some reason needed to exit the driver-side of the truck. You know... something urgent and rational.) This forced us to slam on the brakes a second time to avoid hitting the truck door and the employee. The employee then charged around the front of the Your Company truck, basically running straight at our vehicle, as he made his way to the store, which frightened me quite badly. I know armored truck employees often carry weapons, and this team doesn't even know how to park or open a door safely, so I doubt they can tell the difference between a security threat and a frightened family trying to get away from them.
By the time we parked at our intended store, maybe an eighth of a mile away, the driver had whipped around and parked in the same position, only heading the right direction this time. The two-lane road seems too narrow for that large a vehicle to make a U-turn so I frankly have no idea how the driver accomplished that. (Even I can't make a U-turn there, and I drive a CR-V that can do donuts on most of our narrower residential streets. My personal guess is that they hopped up on the curbs on both sides, and likely wiped out some of the plants in the curbside flower beds.) I did not feel safe having to cross the street to go to the mall, in front of the truck that was now pointed towards us even though it was several store-fronts down, simply because the team had already demonstrated a dangerous level of inattention to their surroundings.
I also didn't bother to mention, but from the look on their faces, the driver and the delivery employee both were completely shocked to find any traffic at all around them, much less in their way as they went obliviously about their business. It really didn't seem to occur to them that anybody would be at a mall at 1pm on a Sunday afternoon. Also at my brother's request, even though our shopping only took a couple minutes, we hung around in the store until the truck drove off instead of returning straight to our car and leaving. And he lives in Los Angeles, so it takes a lot to scare him off the road. Usually I get scared first!
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