Road rage.

I live my life constantly creating ridiculous scenarios in my head. I mean constantly. All of the best friends in my life are willing to discuss these made up scenarios with me. For hours. That is why I love them. In my day-to-day life I am less prone to sharing these scenarios with friends and co-workers. Not because they wouldn't get it, but more because I think that they might think I am crazy (not that they don't already). I did share one scenario with my co-workers today though. I felt like I was in the circle of trust. Being public health researchers and AVID proponents of walking and biking over driving, I knew that in this instance my crazy ideas would only seem quasi-crazy to them. I have a pretty consistent scenario that I create in my mind every day while taking my walk to Forest Park (a park adjacent to my office building). Each day I must traverse a 6 lane road (Kingshighway) and each day I encounter at least 3 cars that pull out smack dab in the middle of the crosswalk. This bothers me for several reasons, most involving the walker's right to equal transportion, but also the utter nerve of drivers to think that their car is more important than a person's safety. By them pulling onto the crosswalk, I am forced to walk out into busy traffic to get around them. My absolute favorite is when the cars HONK at me as a pedestrian as I attempt to cross this busy street without getting hit and while trying to make the 10 second walking man sign before I get the flashing red hand of death.

Enter scenario.

Wouldn't it be great if I stopped in front of the car and just stood there staring at the driver... silent... staging a mini sit-in right in the middle of the road, my own Tiananmen Square if you will. However, with my rage I think it is more likely that I would slam my hands on the hood and said HEY, I'M WALKING HERE! Like some crazy New Yorker in the movies who always walks out into a sea of moving taxi cabs. Or even better yet, I think that I would much rather continue walking across the crosswalk, in a straight path, as if the car is not even there. Maybe someday I will just step up on the car's tire, walk over the car's hood, and jump down as I cross the street. This would be even cooler if I could do it while riding a bike (which also get no respect... but that is a completely different blog post). My only fear is the encounter that I might have with the angry driver whose car I tread on. St. Louis is the second (at times the first) most dangerous city in the country. I have a pretty good idea who would win in that battle. Until I figure out a way to win in a face-off between myself and a car, I will continue to give oblivious drivers the most horrendous stink eye I can muster up as I cross Kingshighway in front of their shiny bumpers as they blare their music and look for the next opportunity to continue down the road that they refuse to share. Someday Mr. Car.... someday.