Poor little guy, long absence

So, I was all gun ho about writing a blog about cars and driving and then on a very sad day in July I came into a corner a bit too fast on cold tires and ended up running over a tree with my Subaru. yes the tree was only about 5 inches thick near the base of the trunk, so I took the entire thing out.

I ended up making out pretty good on the insurance and bought the car back. It is currently sitting in my garage as a daily reminder of how one brief moment of not paying close attention behind the wheel can lead to disaster. My hopes are to save some money and start fixing her back up. She is paid for free and clear, and if it came down to it I could part her out or sell the complete car for well more than I bought her back from the insurance for.

Being a car fanatic, it has taken me this long to get back in the mood to talk cars and driving and put it all down on paper, so to speak.

Something happened last night that prompted me to get back into action and hopefully start writing on a more regular basis again.

Last night after dinner My wife and I take our dog for a walk around the neighborhood. I live on a street that has a 30mph speed limit, but people who travel down the hill from the east tend to zoom in around 50-60mph because the speed limit further east is 45mph, and there are no houses that have driveways right into the street. Personally i feel the speed limit should be 25mph cause I have to back my car out into it everyday, kids ride their bikes on the sidewalk, etc, etc.

So we get up the street a bit and right as we are approaching the 30mph speed limit sign a small dog across the street gets loose from his owners. I know this because all of a sudden I hear someone screaming for the dog to stop. It would seem the little guy saw us and our dog and wanted to come say hello.

As the dog enters the street I also see a small Hyundai jamming down the hill going way above 30mph, if I had to estimate at min he was going 50. The dog ran right in front of the car not 15 feet from us and got plowed. A piece of plastic from the underside of the car even came loose. The driver never even slowed down, though he did turn around and come back.

Poor little guy was twitching and bleeding from his head. Two men came out into the road to get him while my wife slowed another speeding idiot heading down the hill to make sure the dog was not hit again.

One of the owners picked up the dog and carried him to the sidewalk while the other was frantically screaming out in agony over the loss of his little buddy.

Shelly and I both felt sooo bad for them and the little dog. It still brings tears to my eyes now re-living that entire scene. It happened so fast yet I remember it happening in slow motion.

I really wish the city would do something extra to slow people down, but I fear a human will have to be injured before anything is done. There was a portable radar machine that showed the speed limit out there a few months ago and that seemed to really slow people down, but the second it left the speeds went back up.

I guess people just don't care to notice the speed limits and why they are slower in neighborhoods, unless they live in those neighborhoods.

Please, please slow down when driving in neighborhoods, I can only imagine how much worse that situation could have been if it was a child who ran out there.