Newsgroup: it.discussioni.litigi
Titolo: Toronto drivers

I am continually amazed by the stupidity of Toronto drivers. Every
time I think I've seen the most inane, idiotic maneuvers I will ever
see, I can rely on someone else to top it with something even more
self-centred, moronic and reckless.
This morning, on my way to work, I witnessed Olympic record-breaking
feats of idiocy that surpassed even the legendary imbecile drivers who
do not pull over to let emergency vehicles through and the obtuse
Neanderthals who devastate cyclists by opening their car doors without
looking in their side mirrors.
I was walking North on Denison Street from Alexandra Park to Dundas
Street when I saw a tiny little human tottering along in the middle of
the street as cars were driving past. I was about 150 feet away and
saw at least three cars drive right by what looked like a toddler,
leaving only a few feet of distance between their cars and the little
one. One of the cars zoomed past, obviously trying to move faster than
the child, in case it decided to move quickly towards the car.
Pausing here for a moment in the narrative, I would like to ask: "What
the fuck?" What kind of lousy-hearted idiot would see a small child
alone in the middle of a road and not stop their car to: a) make sure
the child was okay; b) make sure their car (and others) didn't hit the
child if it decided to run, or accidentally fell over; c) help the
child onto the sidewalk to prevent anything horrible from happening;
and d) make sure the child was safe from harm, in the arms of their
parent or guardian?
I don't think I'll ever understand how some people think in regards to
them being the only people in their world who matter and how other
people -- even the little people -- are only incidental annoyances to
swerve around when it's convenient and hit if nobody else is looking.
That self-centred, completely selfish world view gets under my skin
and irritates me like a small insect eating its way through my flesh
to my heart.
Maybe they were in a rush to get to work (it was about 9:05AM when I
saw this happen) or had to perform open-heart surgery. Or maybe they
were on their way to clean a toilet, use a toilet or pick their nose.
Regardless, I could care less what they were off to do. If I had the
mindset to remember their license plates and car models, I would
provide them to the police and publish them widely online, perhaps
also tracking them down at home and slashing their tires. But that's
just me...
Now back to the story:
The fourth car that I saw go south on Denison from Dundas was an
orange taxicab who obviously saw the zooming car zip by the child,
with only a narrow margin of space. The child was obviously without a
clue and in sincere danger. The taxicab pulled over, onto the curb in
front of Ryerson Public School on the Southwest corner of the
intersection and two people got out. The passenger was a young woman
with a tight red 'Bebe' top and the driver was a tall man in his 40s
with a white linen top. Both of them looked very concerned.
I arrived at the intersection just as they exited the cab. The woman
helped the child to the curb and the man wanted to know if I knew
where the child's mother was. The man and I talked briefly about how
insanely, dangerously stupid the other drivers were, then we spent a
few minutes looking around for a woman (or anyone else) in the type of
distress someone would be in if one of their children had wandered
off. We didn't find anyone. Nobody seemed to realize that their little
girl was walking, alone, in the middle of traffic, while brainless
miscreants unfortunately licensed to drive were giving her a small
margin to live.
The little girl was 2 feet, 4 inches tall (my approximation) and about
two years old. She had short black hair with tiny ringlets at the
bottom, which curled up just above her neck. Her face had the
complexion and shape of a Portuguese, Spanish or Italian person (which
would be a likely guess due to the neighborhood she was in) and she
was very cute, bordering on adorable. She was wearing purple cotton
pajama bottoms and a tourist trap baby t-shirt with some silly
statement about Alaska written in blue. Her eyes were Disney-character
huge, deepset brown, and very, very innocent and playful.
The little girl wasn't worried AT ALL about the fact she was alone.
But, at the same time, she was a bit shy around we three strangers. I
tried talking to her in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Korean,
Hungarian and Hebrew (just fractured pieces of language, really) and
none of them elicited a response. The only thing she could say was
"Mommy," which she only uttered once.
The cab driver has children of his own. He acted like he would want
anybody else to act if the situation were reversed. He walked to the
housing complex on the East side of Denison and knocked on several
doors. He also stopped people who were walking by, and asked them if
they recognized the child or knew where she lived. Nobody could help.
So here we were, a tall cab driver, a stylish retail girl (my guess),
a grizzly geek and a lost child, and we were all looking for a little
girl's mommy. What to do? Fortunately, I had my trusty TELUS-powered
cell phone in my utility belt. I did what any sane person would do
when they find a lost little girl: I called the cops.
I worked at the Toronto Sun for about three years while at J-School.
My shifts were typically from 5PM to midnight or 1AM. During lulls in
action (especially after first edition had gone to press), the only
noises to be heard were typing, a few gross jokes from the rim pigs
and the sound of the police radio. I heard a number of calls over the
years about children who had gone missing. I remember staring at the
faces of these children on the page proofs as the stories surrounding
their disappearances evolved. Terribly, Tragically, Horribly, too many
of those missing children were not ever be found alive.
I waited with the cab driver and the woman and the child for the cops
to arrive. While it wasn't said, they were not going to leave me alone
with the little girl and I was not going to leave them alone with her,
either.
It took about fifteen minutes for a tall, blonde policewoman to arrive
from 14th division. She took our names and the little girl, and I left
to get to work. I arrived at 10:10AM, late for a meeting but not
feeling remorse about it in the least.
The phone number for 14th division is 
416.808.1400
. I'm going to call
them later in the day to try and learn what happened to the child. If
I get more information, I'll post it here.
Also, I'm curious what you would do if: a) you were driving along and
saw a lone, little girl walking in the middle of a street; and b) if
you found the little girl. Care to share?
Pandasornione

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