My Life Flashed Before My Eyes . . .

well, at least the parts with the shiny cars! Twice in two consecutive days, the carbon based vessel I like to call my body was nearly ploughed in the crosswalks of NYC!

Last night on my way home from work, a Jetta clearly driven by a non-local girl, came to a screeching stop as the light turned red on 87th St. and 2nd Ave. As she stopped, she turned her wheel to the right, indicating that she wished to take a right turn onto 2nd, going north. Unfortunately, she quickly realized that 2nd Ave only runs one-way southbound. As the light turned red, our pedestrian signal turned green and directed me to cross the intersection behind her vehicle (as she had pulled too far into the intersection and was now blocking the crosswalk). And, just as I was passing behind her car, the driver realized that she was about to turn the wrong way onto a one-way street and proceeded to shift the gears from forward to reverse! I had to scuttle past her as she nearly backed right into me! Luckily, the guy behind me was brave enough to pound on her trunk to get her attention! My heart was pounding!

Today, the very next day, on my way out of the office and walking through Times Square, the driver of a Mercedes Benz grew impatient at the plethora of cars trying to move through the intersection of 42nd St. and 7th Ave. Clearly she also was not a local, as any of the cab drivers can tell you that 42nd St. is the busiest street in the city and is difficult to pass through at any time of day, let alone 6pm on a Friday night! So, what did she do? Well, she made sure she patiently sat through one full signal cycle in the middle of the intersection. And, only when she finally couldn't honk her horn any longer, she waited for the pedestrian signal to turn green and she then made a hard left and gunned her car through the crosswalk with about 20 pedestrians in it, including me! One more step and I would be hobbling around on crutches with 10 broken toes this week!