Allowing for idiots

So here I am last Wednesday afternoon (July 8th, 2015) calmly motoring north on Route 332, the main north/south drag through Canandaigua.
It’s a four-lane street, and I’m in the leftmost lane of the two northbound lanes.
I notice a Camry ahead in the leftmost of the southbound lanes with its left-turn signal on.
Retired bus-driver that I am, I shift my right foot to the brake-pedal.
Sure enough, at a closing-distance of about 25 yards, the Camry swings in front me.
I slam on the brakes!
The Camry-driver completed his turn, untouched by me, never looking my way at all.
Oh well, yet another phenomenal avoidance. Saved from accident by the retired bus-driver.
Stuff like this happens all the time, so much I’ve given up blogging it, since it was mainly to infuriate my brother-in-Boston, a macho Harley-dude and arch-CONSERVATIVE.
I woulda said the offending Camry had a Dubya-Cheney sticker — I’ve seen that enough times; that Dubya-supporters had no regard for anyone other than themselves.
But the phenomenal avoidances were so frequent I gave up.
I also am getting along pretty good with my brother. We chase trains together, and perhaps half of what are in my calendar are his pictures.
But that incident gives me an excuse to blog something I’ve been thinking about.
The viper accident-lawyers want you to enlist them so they can pig out on an 89 bazilyun dollar settlement for a minor accident.
An ad is on the TV. Some lady blithely drives her car into an intersection and gets tee-boned by a speeding pickup.
Aside from the fact her pictured reaction — holding her left arm up in defense as she looks in terror at the oncoming pickup — isn’t what I think would happen...... I think she would be looking ahead; she wouldn’t even see the pickup.
No impact is actually shown; the incident was probably staged in a computer.
But I also wondered if such a surprise could happen to me.
I think not.
I drove bus, and as a result I was always expecting the worst.
Approaching an intersection I allow for the possibility a car might charge in front of me — it’s happened.
At traffic-lights I look both ways before starting into a green light, in case someone is running the red light.
If someone approaches with his turn-signal on, I wait until he actually turns. He may have his turn-signal on in error.
—I had this happen once driving bus.
The only way to get bus-passengers safely and timely where they were going was to parry the idiots.
I guess I still drive that way — allowing for idiots. It takes me longer to get where I’m going, but only a minute or two.

• For 16&1/2 years (1977-1993) I drove transit bus for Regional Transit Service (RTS) in Rochester, NY, a public employer, the transit-bus operator in Rochester and environs. My stroke October 26th, 1993 ended that. I retired on medical-disability. I recovered fairly well.
• “Dubya” is former president George W. Bush.
• I’m a railfan, and have been since age-two (I’m 71).
• Every year I publish a calendar of my and my brother’s train-pictures.