It Needed to be Done

You're observing the presentation of a well-deserved ticket to a very bad driver. What did he do? On the south-bound side of Wallace Road, at the intersection of Wallace and Dr. Phillips Blvd, he pulled out of the right lane and into the left side into on-coming traffic so he could drive down a few yards into the left turn lane from Wallace to east-bound Dr. Phillips. I know this because I was several cars behind him when he pulled that stunt.

What makes this really bad is the driver did this during the morning rush when parents were dropping their children off at Dr. Phillips Elementary, which is right there at that intersection. Along with heavy automobile traffic, there were kids in the crosswalks along with the adult cross walk monitors. Now you've got a really bad situation where an extremely selfish driver in his expensive car feels he's entitled to get somewhere in a hurry regardless of the rules, and so puts a lot of very precious lives at risk. Because the through-traffic was heavy, and because he was too impatient to wait until he reached the left turn lane he pulled into the regular traffic lane and into the front of a van that was turning right onto north-bound Wallace from Dr. Phillips so he could get into the left turn lane. The van, of course, had the right-of-way.

Why do I feel this stirred up? Because this is "my" neighborhood elementary school. My two daughters, who are twenty-something's now, graduated from Dr. Phillips Elementary. I had a strong sense of parental protectiveness for that school then, and I still do now.

It's not as if this was some hidden trap by Orange County. They were standing right there in plain view as a group along with their cars in the bright morning sunshine. The fact that he (and a number of other bad drivers that morning) pulled that stunt in front of them just goes to show his ignorance as well as his overwhelming feeling of self-importance.

Not only was he the only one that they'd pulled over, but there was a truck pulling a trailer with lawn care equipment on the side of the road as well, having been pulled over for doing the same violation.

I am not particularly friendly with Orange County. I have absolutely no use for their radar speed traps they run, especially on the east side of Orlando on Corporate Blvd and Quadrangle. If you don't believe me just search for "speed+traps" in the search box above and read my commenets. As long as they continue to run speed traps and I spot them doing it then I will stop and take photos of those actions, because those actions are wrong.

But today, the Orange County Sheriff's actions were absolutely right on. I hope they keep this particular action up. And I hope the tickets they hand out for this particular infraction are expensive as hell.