Most people who know me know that I do not drive.  I am a bike rider.  I like riding my bike.  It rarely holds me back for doing something that a person that drives can do.  The one thing I have noticed in the five years since I took to bike riding is that people don't care about others.  Of course when I say people don't care, I don't mean to imply that every person on the face of the Earth is uncaring, because that's not true.  I wanted to clarify that because some people say that I judge a whole group by what a few people do.  Of course I also believe those people who accuse me of that are doing it to avoid the real topic in the conversation, but that's another commentary.

Let's get back to this topic today, people who don't care about other people.  I don't know if maybe I just didn't notice it prior to when I began bike riding or it has gotten worse, but it is real and I know that for a fact.  Back in February I was hit by a car while I was in a cross walk.  The person driving the car pulled in to the cross walk and I had no time to stop.  I got knocked off my bike and the front rim of the tire was bent and the front break line snapped.  Thankfully those things were the extent of the damage, I was uninjured.  What bothered me about the incident was the driver of the car felt she did nothing wrong.

From seeing how this woman reacted and how she attempted to shift the blame to me, just showed me she was an uncaring person.  She wanted to get where she was going and the rest of the world were just obstacles in her way.

She actually told me after she hit me that she had a right to be in the cross walk, even though I had the right of way.  She felt she could be in the cross walk because when the light changed she was going to turn.  I said to her that she could not block the cross walk no matter what, it is a state law.  She just looked at me and acted as if, so what if it's the law that doesn’t effect me.  Almost like if it got in the way of where she was going she could ignore the law.

She almost seemed like she was above the law.  What have noticed and I could be wrong, but the more money people make and the more education they have the more arrogant they become.

But let me clarify one thing, the arrogant and snobby are not limited to the rich.  Believe me I see plenty of regular people who work everyday and do not have large amounts of money in their bank accounts that are snobs and care about no one but themselves.

Recently my son and I were riding and this time a man was fully blocking the cross walk, so my son and I had to basically go into traffic to go around his car.  As we went around him, I yelled "Don't stop in the cross walk."  He followed my son and I and parked his car so we could not get by him.  He actually wanted to physically fight with me because I told him he shouldn't park in the cross walk.  My son was crying.  He didn't know what this guy was going to do.  My son and I eventually, without incident went around his car and left.  Tell me that was ok.  Why is it ok that a guy breaks the law and then when he is told about it, he further wants to break the law by trying to insight physical violence?  If that is the way the world is supposed to be, then it's really screwed up.

Just today I was riding my bike and once again, this time a woman pulled into the cross walk and when I yelled for her to stop, she looked at me like she was stunned.  Well of course she was stunned she looked as though she was off in dreamland somewhere.  As the kids like to say today OMG!

This woman was driving what can be a deadly weapon If she hit somebody.  She was totally unaware of what was going on around her.  But I suppose I shouldn't be bothered by a person like this driving a car and their mind being off somewhere in another world.

What about the drivers who speed through school zones?  Those people are the worst offenders of all if you ask me.  I want someone to tell me what justifies speeding through a school.  If you are not an emergency vehicle, there is no justification for speeding through a school zone.

I think what bothers me more is that in almost any school zone I pass I very rarely see a police presence in the area.  What should be a higher priority for the police at the time that schools are letting out than protecting the children?  I say nothing.  I suppose budgets constraints keep them from having officers there.  Are you kidding me?  FIND THE MONEY IN THE BUDGET.  No amount of money is worth more than a child's life.

I think we have gotten to a really critical point in our society when possessions and money have become more important then our children.  If you really think that possessions or getting to a destination fast is more important then a human life, then you better look in the mirror and find out if you're human.
tshirer@lakecounty-sentinel.com or follow Tim on Twitter @TimothyShirer or get more politcal news on Twitter @LCSPolitical