Just need to vent...

• Well, I'll just say that I don't want to end up like the 13-year-old girl on her bike a few blocks from here, killed by a pickup.
• Or the young neighbor lady crossing the 35-mph highway that's goes through town very close to here, killed by an SUV that was turning left onto the highway.
• Or the neighbor who was in a nearby pizza place parking lot, who got his legs messed up when ran over by an SUV.
• Or the guy on the bike going down the highway, killed by the young driver who turned right and drove right over him in his pickup.
• Or my buddy I used to work with, who got killed on his bike by a friend of his who didn't see him from in his pickup on a 15-mph street in the next town from here.
• Or the couple who we met in the hospital after being hit by a Jeep down on Main Street as they were crossing to go to a restaurant.
• Or the teenage girl a few blocks south of here who got hit crossing the street and has suffered brain damage ever since.

And those are just the ones I can think of that happened near here.

Will wearing bright colors and having lots of lights be enough to walk and bike around a place like this, a small town with 25 mph streets? Since COVID I've had three people hit my car here in town, and I was stopped those three times for valid reasons, like waiting at a red stoplight. If I had been on a bike I would have been a goner.

 

Obviously.
Just remember, If you're not having fun, then you're not doing it right.
I have to drive more or less for a living - since travel to and from my job sites consumes a majority of my time....and you know what?

I still LOVE to drive.
I still go on drives JUST to drive, and maybe take in a sunrise on the beach - or see a park I haven't been to before.
Yes...I have to share the roads with my fellow humans, but part of the fun for me is the challenge of keeping them from swapping paint with me.
Most people are not quite as good at driving as they think that they are - and I include myself in this analysis since age is taking a toll on things like vision and reflexes.
Probably mental agility as well if I'm being completely honest.
I'm probably drifting towards the left of the sample group - but I still LOVE the ABILITY to decide....FOR MYSELF.....the ability to drive myself hundreds of miles in a day if I want to.
Or?
No miles at all.

Diving private passenger cars is like a democratic republic.
It's the worst way to do things excepting for all of the ways that have been tried before it.

 

What can I do to make it more fun? I do miss driving a manual. But I don't see that happening ever again because I'm not trading my Avalon hybrid in for a Nissan Versa unless my Avalon were totaled.

I also want to go for bike rides, but don't feel that it's safe anymore, regardless of how much fluorescent neon clothing and lights. I guess I could drive my bike out to a bike path. But I kind of would like to be able to just ride my bike to work, but even my wife says that would be to dangerous.

Cars are just tools to get us from point A to point B. I guess I'm happy I can do that. Driving isn't the worst thing in the world. I just don't like all the downsides and feeling like there is no alternative unless I moved to some other country.

I'm overweight and need to walk and get exercise. Biking and walking down the street don't feel like options anymore because people are too crazy.

I'd like to get to know my neighbors better and be a better neighbor. Bus rides are kind of nice in that regard. But I still have to walk a greater distance to get to the closest bus stop than the farthest distance the town bus can take me here in town.

When traveling long distances. I'd like to be able to do something other than stare at the road in front of me, like reading or playing a card game.