As a matter of fact, that was when I was seeing perfectly well and I
would have seen the cop directing traffic if I had not been distracted
by all of his flashing lights off to my left, but I will have to confess
that I did continue to drive long past the point that it was safe for me
to do so. And, by the way, folks in these parts are convinced that deer
hide on the side of the road and wait for a car to come along so that
they can jump out in an effort to commit suicide.
---
Christopher Hitchens
“ What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.
”
― Christopher Hitchens,
On 4/19/2019 8:20 PM, Carl Jarvis wrote:
Roger and Miriam,
I'm assuming that your adventure happened at the time you still had
decent vision.
But it brings to mind many, many stories Cathy and I have heard from
older clients who just can't face the fact that their sight has dimmed
to the point that they should quit driving. Because of never having
had decent vision, I grew up knowing that driving after dark, or at
dusk, or on grey rainy days, would endanger both myself and anyone
within striking range. So I seldom drove, and as a result I did not
miss the freedom which so many of our clients missed. Even so,
because I learned to drive with only one eye, it took a great deal of
energy to "see" all that was going on around me. Also it took
considerable luck.
"Oh, I can see distances just fine," they tell us. "It's just up real
close that things get fuzzy." We patiently explain the impact on the
Retina, and how our brain can trick us into believing we're seeing
more than we really do see, but they are wanting to believe that they
are the exception. "Even if you do see distances well enough", I
insist, "what you miss is the ability to see quickly enough to avoid
disaster in an emergency". And in today's heavy traffic that is a
daily event.
One dark winter evening a year ago, Cathy and I were coming home
after a rather long day. We came off highway 101, onto Snow Creek
Road, our county gravel road, and made the long sweeping right hand
curve up a steep hill. Suddenly Cathy hit the brakes. I felt the
thump. "Oh God!" Cathy groaned, "I hit a deer. It just jumped from
the hill right into our path". After driving that road since 1987,
this was the first encounter we'd had with a deer...or anything other
than a suicidal bird. As many miles as she's driven, and as sharp as
her night vision is, there was no way of avoiding that deer. Our
headlights confused it and it bolted for the far side of the road, and
the safety of the forest. It rolled and then jumped up and dashed
into the brush. Hopefully it was just bruised, not damaged fatally.
But our new Toyota Tacoma had over $1,000 damage to the grill. That
repair, which, thankfully, was covered, reminded me of how cheaply
today's vehicles are put together. Inside our truck we feel safe.
But when one bump can cause so much damage, what would we look like if
we'd struck an oncoming vehicle at 25 miles an hour, each?
Carl Jarvis
On 4/19/19, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I didn't hit him. He jumped out of the way just in time. That image of
him that I have burnt into my brain was the sight of him in mid leap.
---
Christopher Hitchens
“ What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without
evidence. ”
― Christopher Hitchens,
On 4/19/2019 9:18 AM, Miriam Vieni wrote:
Other people might not have laughed in that situation. I've never driven a
car, but if it were me, I'd have been horrified that I'd inadvertently hit
someone whom I hadn't seen, relieved that he wasn't hurt, and terrified
about being arrested. I suspect that if you were African American, he
probably would have arrested you for attempted murder, and you might not
be here to tell the tale.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Roger Loran Bailey
(Redacted sender "rogerbailey81" for DMARC)
Sent: Thursday, April 18, 2019 10:10 PM
To: blind-democracy <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [blind-democracy] Attempted murder
Since I was using attempted murder as an example of how one could be
charged with a crime when the intended crime was not committed I reminded
myself of the time a cop threatened to arrest me for attempted murder. I
tell you this only because I thought you might find it amusing. In
retrospect I do. I was driving along once at night. I came up to an
elementary school on my left and sitting in the parking lot was a police
car with its blue lights flashing, its headlights on and a door standing
open. There was no cop in it nor outside of it that I could see. That made
me curious and so I was looking at it wondering what was going on. As I
passed it I returned my eyes to the road just in time to see the cop. The
image I saw was burned into my brain and I still recall it in detail.
Right there in my headlights was an airborne cop. He was actually in the
air above the road with arms and legs spread out, with a flashlight also
in the air and detached from his right hand by several inches, and a look
on his face that could only be utter panic. I hit my brakes just in time
to avoid hitting the stopped car that was partially in the road and
partially in a deep ditch. I could see that the car was stuck and that the
cop had been directing traffic around it, but because I was distracted by
his cop car with all of its lights flashing I did not see him until too
late. It was his leap that I caught part of in my headlights that saved
him, not my application of the brakes. The application of the brakes only
saved me from hitting the car. Once I had stopped here came the cop from
the foliage that he had leaped into. From his mouth came a flurry of
invectives each of which was preceded by the words god damn. It was god
damn idiot, god damn moron, god damn fool and god damn everything else.
Between the god damns he threatened to arrest me for reckless driving,
attempted murder and numerous attempted other crimes. Even while all this
name calling and threats were going on I was hard pressed to not laugh.
What struck me as so funny were all the leaves and twigs adorning his
uniform and his hair too. He must have landed in a real thicket. Amazingly
enough, though, he finally said that he had other things to deal with
other than me and he told me to get out of there before he really did
arrest me. I left without even a ticket.
