Yesterday, Little Man and I were going along with the flow of traffic on a local highway when all of a sudden, this sliver Mercedes went flying by. And by “flyiing by”, I mean about 80mph in a 55. This car made us all look like we were sitting still. I was watching as this speedster was zipping in and out of lanes when it hit me; this was a kid racing back to the nearby high school during lunch break. At this point, my plans of Fred Meyer and then getting home early, took a detour. This kid was going to kill someone if he wasn’t stopped. I switched lanes, followed him into the school parking lot, took a picture of his car and the plates, then drove around the parking lot looking for a spot to park and go inside to talk to the SRO (School Resource Officer).
First, this high school is big, at least for Idaho standards, so there were pimple popping humans everywhere. Second, there were no parking spots available unless I had a need for a handicapped spot. Therefore, Little Man and I exited out the parking lot as droves of high schoolers drove in (is open campus at lunch really necessary?), ran to Fred Meyer then pulled into our dirt lane. I was still ticked off but I’d calmed down some, which is better for clear communication.
Upon calling the school, I explained to the secretary my reason for the call. She told me that the SRO was out for the day but there was a county deputy there. The secretary also told me that she’d overheard the deputy talking to someone about a silver Mercedes (why is a kid even driving a Mercedes?!). About 10 seconds later, the deputy answers and I tell her my reason for the call, describe the car and tell her I even have a picture if she should need that. Nope, she didn’t. The picture of the car and the plate weren’t needed (she asked about the first number on the plate and it matched), due to the fact that she’d just gotten off of the phone with the boy’s mother because a gentleman had called the school a bit earlier to complain about a silver Mercedes that was driving at a dangerous speed. Right before my call, the deputy had just finished talking to this boy. He claimed he’d been going the speed limit. I told her that was flat out b.s. She agreed that it most likely was if there was a complaint and where there were two calls, yes, he is highly likely lying. The deputy was going to be calling his mother back. I told her that he needed to lose this car and use a bicycle or a horse. She laughed and suggested he just use his two legs. Sounded good to me!
Long story short. Do NOT just be a bystander. Because another person and I called to voice our concern about this dangerous driver, we may have saved some people. I don’t know for certain and I’m good with that. I do know that if he’d hit someone, there would have most likely been fatalities. What really prompted me to contact the high school, was imagining one of my children being harmed by this dingbat with wheels or another person being harmed because of me having been complacent and not alerting the school or police. After speaking with the school secretary and the county deputy, I, and the gentleman who called, were greatly appreciated! I was told that if any of us out in the public should ever see this driving behavior, to not hesitate to call, because we’re helping to keep others safe. And for the hot rod drivers out there, don’t mess with a mama bear! Grrr . . .
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