How to drive like a tool

Every day provides numerous examples of how not to drive but today[Sunday] I saw something out of the ordinary.  While chatting with a friend near the library we saw a car suddenly stop in the middle of Baker across the street from MMS.  Thankfully the car behind them managed to brake in time.  

Why did the first car suddenly stop?  The driver saw his/her child walking across the MMS lawn.  Instead of doing something logical such as pulling over into a parking spot, the driver stayed in the middle of the lane.  Son and friends crossed the street and approached the stopped car.  They didn't even get in, but put their sports bags in the car and then walked off.  The driver then drove on towards the Village.  At no point did the driver use a signal or do anything responsible.

What amazed me most is the car behind them did not honk or try to drive around this fool.  

You must have missed the town-wide notification that Baker is now this idiot's driveway.  

I am astonished at how many people just stop in the middle of a street with no warming and if you honk they might put on hazards but won't actually move out of the way.  And yes this happens a lot by MMS.

Last night two fellows were speeding, they took a turn up a hill too fast, and somehow they hit a light post with a transformer turning off all the lights in the neighborhood.  Somehow this caused them to do a 180 down the street which they had just climbed, and witnesses say that they then did a 360 and ended up on another light post instead of going down a 100 ft embankment.  They then abandoned the car and ran down my street.  I saw them running from my window, because I was looking to see if I was the only one who had lost the electric power.  We were without electricity until about 10:30 this morning.  Now that is stupid and lucky.  No one would have complained had they gone down that ravine.  Cops found beer cans and drugs in the truck.

There is much to like about our community, but driving manners are so not on the list. Driving through red lights ... stopped at green lights ... disregard for pedestrians ... the aforementioned blocking of traffic for loading/unloading/chatting/daydreaming. It's probably a separate rant to mention school drop off & pick up foolishness, but maybe not. People around here seem to lose their minds when they get behind the wheel.

I'm so frustrated with the driving. Yesterday I was doing 35 on Valley Street (which is already 10 above the speed limit) and someone was tailgating me. I slowed down because I don't like to speed on local roads and doing 10 above is too much in my opinion. But being tailgated is outrageous. Valley Street is not the turnpike. People live on that street!

And don't get me started about the crosswalks!! No one stops!!

Another recent example of this: I was driving up our street, signalling that I was going to make a right turn into our driveway. Just as I got to it, I slowed down and pulled a bit to the left, since it's a tight turn and I try not to drive over our neighbor's curbside grass. A car came up behind me, going well over 25 mph, and passed me ON THE RIGHT as I was starting to make my right turn. I jammed on the brakes and could see them laughing as they went by - seemed to be a fun thing for them to do. 

And, about Prospect? Ever since Valley went to 25 mph, there has been much more traffic on Prospect and it moves well over the speed limit. There are fewer lights on Prospect than on Valley, so people use it. Makes it much more difficult for pedestrians trying to get across the street, since no one seems to want to slow down. Half of them aren't even looking to see if there is a pedestrian trying to cross.