(13)
'Fess up when car meets flesh
He's a cartboy, one of the lads who wrangles up the carts we leave hither and yon. He likes doing it, though he comes home with soggy shoes and chapped hands. When I ask if our recent crazy weather isn't incentive enough to learn to work the cash register, he laughs.
Wet feet were the least of his worries on the first Saturday of the new year. At 11:30 a.m., a woman in a black PT Cruiser hit him. Her car struck his knee. She immediately stopped, got out and profusely apologized. She offered to go into the store to get his manager, she offered to call his mom, she offered her name and information, and asked if she could do anything.
Wait, no – she didn't do any of those things, except hit him with her car. Instead, she tweaked her window down a couple of inches, told him he was fine, and took off.
Is this really what we've come to?
It was a clear day, the lot was plowed and my son is taller than 6-feet. He was also wearing a brilliant green safety vest. He was standing at the entrance to the buggy corral, doing his job.
The woman didn't even slow down as she sped through the aisle. In the shock and scramble to regain his balance, he missed her licence plate. She was gone.
You know what? To hell with the Traffic Code. What about the Human Code? I shudder to think if she had hit a toddler, or someone less steady on their pegs.
My friend's son was hit a few months back. It was dark and he was walking on a sidewalk when a car backed out and struck him. He arrived home in shock, unhurt but rattled. Again, the driver took off. He couldn't remember the driveway where he'd been hit. I wonder if the driver remembered him.
If you are piloting a huge rolling pile of steel, it's up to you to make sure you don't nail pedestrians whose only defence is denim and skin. Are jaywalkers breaking the law? Yup. But you don't get to hit them. Are people who cross through a parking lot on a big diagonal path really annoying? Yup. But they're still not bowling pins.
It is up to you to know what is going on around your entire vehicle all the time. If you can't manage this, you shouldn't drive. And in the unfortunate event of car meeting flesh – regardless of blame – yes, you have to stop.
Christopher's knee is swollen and bruised, but not broken. He missed his next shift, which doesn't mean financial ruin, though at age 17, 50 bucks is 50 bucks. He'll live, unlike some tragic hit-and-runs you read about too often.
Apparently, he's hardly the first worker to be hit – one was rolled on a hood. The company wrote it up, but he's okay.
So my son is fine, just like you said, PT Cruiser Woman. At least on the outside. Thanks to you, he's more aware than ever that with good timing and disregard for others, you can avoid responsibility.
I've been trying to raise my sons to take their lumps as they earn them – I don't expect perfection, but I do expect decency.
I hope if something happens to someone you love, they're not left in the dust of cowards like yourself.
I also hope you didn't have any kids in the car with you that day — what an example you'd be setting.
Lorraine Sommerfeld appears Thursdays on Wheels.ca.
www.lorraineonline.ca
Woman's win over Honda opens door to mileage claim free-for-all
Video: Chevrolet Sonic a small car with a big car price
These four affordable, mid-size SUVs are worth a look
