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EK Bayer: Wake Up Call

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Lately, it can be hard not to feel distracted and dissociated. EK Bayer says we’re due for a wake-up call.

Recently, my son was riding his scooter to school in San Francisco, and was hit by a car. His school called right away and I spoke with him, so I knew he wasn’t badly injured. He came away with scrapes and bruises. He can’t remember much. He was in a crosswalk, wearing a helmet. The woman who hit him was making an illegal left turn or maybe a U-turn. She stopped, and asked if he was okay. He said he was. She then got him in her car, drove him one block to school, dropped him at the curb and left. That’s a lot to unpack. I’d love to hear her side of the story, but we’ve been unable to find her. Now it’s a hit-and-run.

The principal and I visited the street where it happened, where a lot of kids walk to school. As we stood in the crosswalk talking, three cars made the same illegal left turn through the crosswalk. It reminded me of when I purchased some planter pots last year from Facebook Marketplace, and when I went to collect them near Grand View Park, a car blew through a stop sign, narrowly missing me. The seller informed me that this was a daily occurrence. I thought of my friend, who was struck by a car walking through an Ingleside crosswalk not that long ago. She fractured her shoulder.

I wonder if people blatantly ignoring neighborhood traffic laws is new since Covid. Honestly, it feels less like people forgetting how to drive, and more like people just not caring. I wonder if the isolation of Covid, especially compounded with how we can choose to live our lives online, has made people lose touch with their impact on the world, with their neighbors. Maybe that’s why this woman, who had a child’s car seat, and who my son thought was a school parent, was disconnected enough to drop him alone and leave without walking him in to an adult. My son is fine, thank goodness, other than thinking he’s invincible instead of just lucky. Hopefully, this will serve as a wake-up call to our neighbors. Be safe out there.

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With a Perspective, I’m EK Bayer.

EK Bayer lives and writes in San Francisco.

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