Astoria is turning into a mini-Miami. Pedestrians beware, and I'll tell you why.The other day I was walking my rather large dog, and we came to a crosswalk at an intersection. A car stopped for us to cross, and I was about to step out into the street when I noticed that an old relic of a car was pulling up behind the first car, and the second car was edging more and more towards the center line, to the point where the driver's side of the car was blocked from view.
By then I was getting more than a little nervous, so I stepped out hesitantly, pulling the dog in close. Good thing I was hesitant.
The second car pulled out across the center line, passed the stopped car, and blew right through the crosswalk. If I hadn't been leery, and proceded slowly, he would have wiped me and my dog all over 16th Street. And probably kept right on going.
I got a glance at the driver as he passed a few feet in front of me. Yup, it was an old geezer, chin jutting over the top of the steering wheel, gripping the wheel with his hands at 10 and 2, staring grimly ahead, rushing to his denture adjustment or bingo fiesta. He looked a tad huffy that the first driver had stopped at the crosswalk and gotten in his way.
He didn't even see us, and that was an accomplishment. I'm no bitty little thang, and I have a very large dog. I would have reported him, but of course, I was too busy trying to stay out of his way to think about taking down license plate numbers.
Not that I think it would do any good to report such a thing in Astoria, which has become the Giza for Geezers. They merrily drive around running stop signs and ignoring cross-walks, blithely going about their business without a thought in the world.
I suppose it's going to take one of these geriatric lethal weapons plowing through a herd of school children to wake up the DMV to check them yearly for vision, reflexes and lucidity.
In the meantime, folks, be very, very careful at crosswalks. One of those geezer missiles might have your name on it.
