Stop Sigh

October 11, 2008



No, that title is spelled correctly. It’s what I’m calling the method of traffic navigation used by some complete moron from Somerville.

The other day, while following behind the stereotypical worker’s pickup truck, I was aghast that the driver behind the wheel failed to even pause at a stop sign in Somerville’s Davis Square.

I was heading in the same direction, so I gave a blast of my horn to get the guy’s attention, and noticed that he did look around when I honked but he kept driving.

This blatant rolling roll (because there was no element of stop) happened twice more on the way toward Union Square. Then as a light turned yellow, then red, the muscle-head behind the wheel rolled through that light too.

Perhaps his brakes were malfunctioning or maybe he had too many steroids in his system, but he was making his own rules of the road and endangering everyone else around him.

I tailed him all the way to Union Square where I rolled up beside him and took a good look. He was a young, white guy with rippling muscles and a sneer on his lip. I decided it was better not to confront him – even with my armored riding jacket and helmet, he might have just popped my head off like a dandelion.

But I did take his plate number and proceeded to the Somerville Police Department with it.

That’s where I became introspective. If I reported the guy, how likely was it that he’d find out it was me that turned him in? Or even that he’d find out that it was a person on a scooter who reported him?

I think that’s where I get a big fat FAIL. I didn’t turn in his license number for three reasons.

1 – If the police were doing their job and enforcing traffic violations instead of drinking coffee at details, I wouldn’t have to be doing their job.

2 – If the driver found out it was a scooterist who reported him, I thought he might be brazen enough to run a scooter off the road. He drove straight through stop signs, what makes you think he wouldn’t mash a tiny scooter.

3 – I’ve reported stuff like this before and been given the cold shoulder and the ambivalent stare of some cop at the window. I don’t like the feeling that I’ve wasted my time trying to play by the rules.

So the next time you’re in Somerville, slow down at each stop sign and stop light. There’s still at least one lunkhead out there endangering us all.

If you’ve come across him too, tell your story here in the comments.

More to come…