“Take a walk on the wildside…” For some that might mean jumping out of a plane at 4000 feet in the air or swimming with sharks off the Carolina shores, but for me, it is walking with the dogs on a snowy morning in Waterloo. For decades now Mothers have been waging a war against Drunk Driving and trying to educate people about the perils of driving while under the influence. Today’s latest trend is warning drivers about texting while operating a motor vehicle. Yesterday the boys and I were walking in a quiet subdivision that doesn’t have any through roads or sidewalks. I love walking in this area because of the mature trees and older style homes with yards. It was kind of icy, so we were taking our time and heading back towards the park when a woman in a black SUV came racing around the corner, I looked up and realized that not only was she driving too fast, but she was also not looking at the road, she was staring at her phone perched on the steering wheel. For a fleeting second my stomach lurched and I felt like Bambi in the headlights. As I tugged at Lucas and Diesel to dash to the right to avoid getting hit, thankfully she looked up and jerked the car out of our path. I was not in the wrong, I was walking facing traffic, but when the person driving is in not in their own lane, behind the wheel of a big assed gas eating machine, there isn’t much one can do. Which brings me to this morning, we did a different route, as I had noticed the boys were wiping out on hidden patches of ice under the newly fallen snow, so I figured it was safer to stick to the sidewalk. As we headed down Davenport, a busier commuting route in my area, I realized I should have probably not ventured that direction to get home. More than once I have been walking this street and have seen someone take the corner too fast on a day which is slick and take out a boulevard tree, which might I add, there is an entire stretch where there are no longer any trees as they have all been taken out by drivers! One rainy afternoon, I watched a car leave the road and take out a stretch of fence that backs along the houses there, if I had been any earlier walking that section it would not have been a good day. So as I continued on the stretch of treeless boulevard this morning, I could hear Lou Reed in my head singing “Jackie is just speeding away, thought she was James Dean for a day, then I guess she had to crash, Valium would have helped that bash, she said, hey babe, take a walk on the wild side.” As well, I said a prayer or two hoping that this mornings drivers were on the ball and their cell phones were safely stowed in a pocket or a purse. Who wants to meet their end in such a senseless, avoidable way…people, please put your cell phones away when you are driving and for god sakes, slow down when the weather dictates, you are not the only person trying to get somewhere at that moment in time!
No Time To Paws 