When drivers aren’t very good at driving

Bob CollinsBob Collins May 29, 2015
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In the category of “it sure could have been a lot worse”:

Police are saying only that something distracted the unidentified driver as he was driving down Grand Ave., in St. Paul last night.

The driver was apparently searching inside the car for his keys, a St. Paul police spokesman tells MPR’s Jon Collins. Think about that for a second.

He crossed over the westbound lanes just east of Snelling, the Pioneer Press says, and ended up on the sidewalk, where he hit four people, two of whom were taken to the hospital.

Alcohol wasn’t a factor, the Star Tribune says.

We’ve been struck, particularly in recent days, at the utter inability of many drivers in the Twin Cities to simply drive their vehicles straight down the road.

In Roseville this week, for example, a truck driver was rescued from his burning wreck after he “lost control” of his truck on I-35W.

Maybe drivers get cut off. Maybe they spend too much time on smartphones, maybe the kids were screaming. Whatever.

We’re just not very good at this driving stuff.

Discussion point: How might things be different if we got as outraged by the scourge of distracted drivers as we do about Pedal Pubs?

Related transportation: Take These Steps If You Get Hit By a Car As a Pedestrian or Cyclist (CityLab).