You Yelling At Me?

I'm walking my lovely beagle Emma this morning and it's a very nice Pacific Northwest morning. Very gray and cloudy but no rain, so I'd call that almost perfect. We stop at crosswalks and look both ways because I have found people to not be considerate of pedestrians.

I stop and 3rd and French, notice a car coming up 3rd towards me and the four way stop, but since I am not crossing in front of them, I start to cross the road.

I'm not even sure they did a courtesy slow down. The next thing I know I am staring at the grill of a car coming right at me. I am ashamed to admit that I just froze. I thought I'd be the kind of person who would be all action in times of crisis. Turns out, might be the exact opposite. I don't' even look at the driver when the car slams to a stop. I just stand there staring at the grill and the headlights.

I recover and yell, "Hey!"....then as I start to walk away, I turn back towards the car to see just how close it was to me and I yell, "Oh my God!"....the equivalent of saying "Wowzer, that was close!" I keep walking, muttering to myself and Emma about that being scary, when the driver of the car rolls down her window and yells at me.

"I'm sorry! People make mistakes!"

I can't help but reply, "It's a marked crosswalk, there are KIDS walking to school here." I kindly point out the kids walking in case she hadn't noticed. My own son was two blocks down walking to school. I don't want to think there are people who drive like that near him.

"I SAID I'M SORRY! PEOPLE MAKE MISTAKES! BUT I'M SURE YOU'RE NOT ONE OF THEM!" Then the angry lady who almost ran me over, races off, going way faster than the 20 mph posted on the entire street.

All I could think was, Really? You're yelling at me?

I'm the first to admit I'm not perfect. But I won't yell at a person I almost hit with my car. That seems a bit over the top in rudeness.