The Things People Do When No One Is Looking

I have been a witness to a crime!! Several crimes! Unbelievable! Call the police!! Ring the alarm!!

Alright, now that the dramatics are over, we'll get straight to the true story of how an innocent girl from California witnessed what some might call a negligible crime but I will argue reveals the true nature of people and somehow, what is wrong with the world today.

The crime: u-turns on RED lights.

Why I care: The culprits nearly hit me!!

But I'm not convinced that this little fact (of being almost hit) is truly relevant to my larger point here so I will- in one short paragraph- remind all of you to always be aware of the obstacles you might encounter while driving. Whenever I ride my bike around town, I remember this video game simulation that we played in drivers ed (over 10 years ago now). The driver of the vehicle had to maneuver around lights, stop signs, bicyclist, kids running out to get the ball. I truly feel as though I am the person in the that simulation trying to stay alive every time I ride my bike. So- drivers, BE AWARE.

Now that my PSA is over (and my paragraph failed to be as short as I intended), I move on to the real subject of this particular blog.

I have seen all sorts of red-light runners. People in the far right lane, who make a u-turn, across the left hand lane; people that just don't even bother stopping for the red and assume the roads are empty. People u-turning across double yellow lines and past a red light...

Why do they do this? Well, I've put a lot of thought into this. First, I should start by mentioning that I ride my bike home between the hours of 11pm and 1am. Two am last Friday when I had a hellacious night (hellacioius bad not hellacious drunk fun). Once again, I digress. Point: there is hardly anyone on the road at this time of the night and so people think oh heck, no one is around- there is no need to stop at this light. They also think no one is around to catch them. And so they can get away with running a red light at midnight.

Now, there are several problems with this. First, let's assume the worst- what if that car HAD hit me running that red light? Such an innocent running-of-the-light-when-no-one-is-looking would have turned into the-worst-mistake-of-their-lives. Not to mention what it would do to my short, semi-meaningless life.

But then I got to thinking. What else do these people do when they think no one is looking? Innocent yet disgusting things like picking their nose and then wiping it on the couch? Yuck. But not life-altering. Do they beat their pets? Their children? Swig and extra swig or two before work? Before hitting the road? Sure, you can argue that I'm being overly dramatic but I don't think so. The bottom line is that the type of people that are willing to run red lights because they think no one is going to catch them are probably the same people cheating on their taxes, eating your clearly labeled lunch from the office fridge, or skipping out on their share of the work load because no one will notice. I'm just saying. These people can't be trusted. Mark my words. And be extra careful when YOU'RE driving at night, because someone else isn't.