Went to the post office today........ (WOW) pics

[Ky Kim]

to get some boxes to mail some plants.  When I got home there was a news break, where a car drove through the post office.  Talking about matter of minutes, wow.  Its only about a 5 minute drive from my house.  Geeeez, kind of makes me have goose bumps.  I bet they put the car in drive instead of reverse....

Kim


My 9 year old took the one pic when we were passing by going to back up to Walmart, the other one I took of the TV.

[GAjen]

Glad you weren't involved.

[Mikey]

Let me guess.  The driver was in his/her 80's

[livetogarden]

Yikes Kim....too close, huh?
Now Mikey!!! 
Point of interest here. I took the garden center job recently. When training and going over the info we need to write on checks that people give us for thier purchases we were told that many old people have permanent driver's licenses so we won't find an expiration date on them. Now that was scary!!!!!!! Not to bash old people in general but it's only reality that some aren't as sharp because of their age. Eyesight changes, reflexes are slower, etc., etc. so what does the state do.....give some of these people permanent licenses. I think they are an age group that should be checked regularly rather than give them a license that doesn't expire.
Cath

[Ky Kim]

Whoever did it, was lucky that they weren't over a little more and just went through the window and over the 3 foot high concrete frame the window in on.  Because a couple more feet to the right and she/he would have hit the concrete wall.

[MikeW]

I have read how some people are too important to wait in the queue, and just push their way to the front of the line!

Glad you missed the excitement.

Cheers,

Mike

[Desertponder]

I cannot believe how much this is happening around here lately. Its almost always an elderly person who "steps on the gas instead of the brake" type of incident. Sometimes its another medical reason. We've had a bunch of these crashes into buildings lately.

[Marilyn C]

A few years ago, my husband and I were eating lunch at a Chinese restaurant.   Our table was against the wall.   A man did like Desertponder said...hit the gas instead of the brakes, went up over the curb and hit the wall, right at our table.   It didn't collapse, but did buckle slightly.   We weren't seriously injured.   Could have been a lot worse.

[Sandye]

Wow!  Was the driver hurt, Kim?

That happened at my high school several years ago.  The drivers ed students were supposed to park the car up against the building, and one of them didn't find the brakes fast enough.   

[Ky Kim]

I'm not sure, I left while the news was still on.  I'm sure it will be on our six o'clock news.

Kim

[GAjen]

We took my grandmother's license 5 years ago when she turned 80. She was having several wrecks and it was just a matter of time before she seriously hurt someone.

[Mikey]

An elderly man of 86 killed ten people and injured 70 others when he drove through a crowded farmers market shopping area in Santa Monica, CA a few years ago.  He was convicted of manslaughter.

[kaz]

Do your 'elderly drivers' have to re-take their driving test?  I think ours do... but not totally sure.  Thank heavens you were safe Kim

[SheilaJ]

Glad you were OK!

About a year ago, I was walking back to the parking lot after finishing work. I was looking down, since I was pushing a bunch of heavy gardening gear on casters over a bumpy sidewalk. I heard a screech of brakes and a crash nearby. I looked up, and maybe 50 feet ahead of me was a Volkswagon Beetle, coming OVER the curb, over the sidewalk, and careening down the hill, where it crashed into a corner of the building. If it had been 30 seconds later, I would have been roadkill ("sidewalk kill"?). I was really shaken up. The driver was a young woman, probably from the nearby college. She was OK but pretty shaken up too. The building only had a couple minor chips to the bricks. The car, however, was probably totalled.

I think new drivers can be almost as dangerous as older ones. Of course, as a middle-aged mom with too much on her mind, I have been known to do some pretty absent-minded things while driving on occasion.

In Washington, DC, I believe they are considering a law to require older drivers to retake their behind the wheel drivers test periodically. And I think AARP is lobbying heavily against it. Personally, I know an awful lot of elderly drivers who shouldn't be behind the wheel. I feel for them, not wanting to give up their independence, but I think public safety should be the first consideration.

[Kat]

Eek!  Too many accidents out there & many of them could have been prevented ... cell phones, too old, too inexperienced, eating, makeup, adjusting the tunes, etc.  Our Post Office had a bashed in wall from a car jumping the curb earlier this year, too.  Close call, glad y'all are ok.

[tootsie]

So glad to hear your SAFE!
It was very difficult to take away my Dads drivers license! Had to drive back and forth 4 times in one week as he had so many sets of keys hidden here and there:( Then after I thought I had them all, he had a friend of his hot wire his truck and give him a set that he had! Finally I brought his truck home too. Came to find out that the kind lady at sec of state helped my Dad, and filled out all his paperwork and renewed his license! I did some checking, found out he then had his license taken away. His memory was slipping away so fast. I had no choice but to bring him home, he lived several hundred miles away on a 40 acre beautiful christmas tree farm. I don't envy anyone that has to do these things to keep their elder parents and the public safe.