Deathwish?

Yesterday I saw an obese older guy bicycling away from the supermarket which is by the expressway. I was getting off the expressway and saw this fat guy in his fifties wearing a backpack peddling as slow as mollasses with a couple of grocery bags on the back of his bike. The poor guy was huffing and puffing and his face was bright red as he peddled his bike. The bike's tires were so flat to the ground that it looked like he was riding the rims. Now when the light is green people get off this expressway like they were bats out of hell. The road I was getting onto is a main boulevard where the speed limit is 45 mph (72 kilometers per hour) and everyone is usually driving at least 50 mph (80 kph) or more. I guess everyone likes to risk their life sometimes?

A couple of weeks ago I was driving with my family to a wedding. I was driving about forty miles an hour on a street where the speed limit was thirty five. I was driving east on the right hand lane. It was a four lane street (two lanes in each direction). I was about half a block away when some old guy started to cross the street on left (north) sidewalk, four lanes away. I presumed he would wait in the middle of the street before crossing all the way. I was wrong. As he got to the middle of the four lane street, he actually took a jump-step and made a dash across the road. I was about twenty feet away from this old guy when he started running. I immediately began applying the brakes on my car. When he was right in front of my car, he tripped. The poor old guy fell head first across the front of my car, and I had to jump on the brakes and swerve into the middle of the road to avoid running over the poor guy. This all happened in a matter of seconds.

I stopped the car, and got out along with my family. We ran over to help the guy up. He had skinned his elbow and it was bleeding. He was shaking from the shock. I guess he thought he was a goner. I bet his life flashed before his eyes. He looked at me with that look of astonishment. I bet he was surprised to be alive. He apologized to me for falling in front of the car, and I apologized to him for not driving slower. I think we were both feeling some awe and gratitude to God that all he had was a skinned elbow. I asked him to feel his arms and legs and make sure nothing was broken. He did, and everything was fine (though I bet he was sore the next day).

The guy said he was seventy four years old. We all thanked God he was alright. He wanted to keep on going because he had to go pick up a prescription at the local pharmacy. He was trembling from the fright. We persuaded him to go home and catch his breath and take care of his skinned elbow. After a couple of minutes, he regained his composure and walked back across the street to his home. The old guy was very nice, and I felt really bad. If I had been going slower, maybe he would not have felt like he had to run across the road? We spend so much time in a rush, that rushing everywhere seems to be normal all the time. I guess we are all rushing around because life is so short? Then when we try to go slow everyone else is rushing by us. Whenever I drive at the speed limit (65 mph/104 kph) on the expressway, all the cars are zipping by as if I was standing still.

Check out these drivers (click above)!