Omaha By Design: Omaha, Only Better

by Ken Mayer

I have an idea that might help America’s beleaguered auto industry. For safety sake and at little additional cost, why not equip all new cars with turn signals? I feel sorry for so many of my fellow drivers who are apparently unable to make others aware of their intentions to turn or change lanes. It’s just such a shame that so many have been cheated out of this valuable motoring accessory.

But seriously, folks. And I do mean seriously: failing to use turn signals is one of a long list of aggressive driving behaviors in a recent AAA Foundation study that was implicated in nearly 56% of deadly vehicle crashes. That’s right, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data for 2003 to 2007, analyzed by AAA, cited one or more aggressive driving actions such as speeding, following too close, improper lane change and failure to signal in 55.7% of accidents where somebody died.

So, what’s a body to do, at 70 miles an hour, when you see the whites of their eyes in your rear view mirror with that look of psychotic rage, hands thrown up off the steering wheel in a display of disgust that you are poking along at a mere 10 miles an hour over the limit? Not exactly the time to call a cop.

The best I’ve been able to come up with is to extricate myself from those less than even odds found by AAA, just in case something goes wrong and I suddenly transfer chariots to the one that’s comin’ to carry me home. I just try to get out of the way and maybe shake my head as the fool overtakes me and speeds forward to do it to the next guy. My goal is to get myself into a safer place without further contributing to the problem.

There’s not much I can do out on the freeway except hope for more cops, since any retribution might get me followed home, beat up or shot by one of these maniacs. But, it seems to me that there’s a lot going on in slower speed public spaces that we ought to politely fight back against.

I’ve long been an advocate of speaking up, in a nice way, when things aren’t going right. I think our recent national fascination with political correctness has been an open invitation to being manipulated, simply because many miscreants are pretty darn sure you won’t say anything when you are getting screwed.

It’s time to call them out.

I don’t for a minute think I’m going to convince the offenders to be better behaved. What I can do is indicate, in some clear and polite way, that they are doing something unacceptable and hope they will get away from me.

We can probably all agree that littering, spitting or releasing other bodily liquids or solids isn’t something that should be done in a public place. Despite the new lights and sidewalks under the tracks on 13th Street, I recently observed a gentleman relieving himself there about 10 one morning. Maybe those new lights ought to be left on all the time.

It reminded me of a strategy often used by a lawyer friend of mine downtown. He simply carried a small camera. It didn’t really matter if it was able to actually take a picture, so long as it would flash. When he came upon some untoward behavior he would simply pop a flash in the general direction. More often than not, it was message received.

Less annoying but still rude is the cell phone conversation. I’ve begun to take umbrage at the earpiece that some of my friends walk around sporting. Apparently a telephone call is top priority, far more important that a conversation with a real person, like me, in their presence. I gently tease them about it, suggesting they must be on alert for that call from the aliens announcing an imminent abduction.

For those who feel the need to speak loudly into any device, I’ve taken to looking directly at them as if their side of the conversation is of intense interest to me. This often gets them moving to a more isolated spot.

This lack of consideration for anybody else who is sharing public space seems to appear in a variety of forms. One of the most annoying is blocking a passageway, be it sidewalk, trail or supermarket aisle. This is often done in concert with the aforementioned phone call. I’ve found that a loud, firm “Excuse me, please,” will often break up the log jam.

Since I suspect that most people know they are engaging in some sort of bad behavior, I think it’s high time the rest of us let them know that we know, too.

Any slight embarrassment experienced when using some of these strategies will quickly subside as you begin to get results. The time has come to put the inconsiderate on notice that in public space, we all need to share.