Why it is good I'm not allowed to carry a gun, lesson #782

[gridlore]

Today was good enough at work. Another trip to Modesto, then I got to take a new (to me) route to get up to eastern Contra Costa County. In fact, I hit five counties today: Santa Clara, Alameda, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, and Contra Costa. A lot of driving, but I only had five stops (four deliveries and one pick-up) so I pretty much got paid for driving through some beautiful country listening to good music.

Because we had a big Costco run to do today, I didn't ride in. The thinking was it would be a lot easier to deal with getting me into the store if I hadn't just ridden 2.6 miles after eight hours of work. This proved to be good thinking. Kiri picked me up, and we headed off to the Great Big Box. She dropped me at Barnes & Noble to see if I could find the 4th omnibus Miles Vorkosigan book (I did, but only in trade paperback.. does anyone know if Miles Errant was published in a normal paperback format?) After that, I joined her at Costco.

For once we weren't joking that we are the only people on Earth who need a "10 items or less" line. Many good things were found and carted, including V for Vendetta and Sneakers. After paying (paycheck? what paycheck?) we started out to the car.

Where we came upon the reason for the post's title. A tan SUV was backing out of its parking space, and completely ignoring the cart with a child in it that it was running into. The father was franticly trying to get the cart out of the way, people were shouting, and I being me, went after the car. I got to the door and freaking screamed for the lady to stop. She finally realized that something was wrong, and I lit into her. I told her to use her fucking mirrors and look over her shoulders. She said she had. I called bullshit, pointing out that she was hitting a Costco cart being pushed by a large man.. both of which were right in line of sight had she bloody well turned her head.

I hope I scared the shit out of her.

Comments

[kengr]

My bet is that he got partly behind the van (and likely at only a foot or two away and *then* she started backing up.

Unless he was a mindreader, nothing the father could do.

[lysana.livejournal.com]

If he was over a foot away when he started moving through the space behind the SUV, he'd have cleared it before she backed into the cart unless she was moving faster than average people do when they back out of a space or he was moving far slower than the average long-legged man of an age I'd assume to be between 25-40.

[lysana.livejournal.com]

Revisiting... it's technically possible he hadn't noticed she was in her car and had just started passing the back end of hers when she started her engine. At the same time, I say as a father, he's supposed to be keeping an eye out for backup lights and an ear out for engines. But without specifics of where everyone was when, we're both engaging in conjecture to no good end.