Bad Driver, Worse Pet Owner

I had a friend  that used to say “That jacks my jaw,” whenever something he saw or heard really bothered him. Yesterday, I saw one of my jaw jacking things at the intersection of 16^th and Limit, as I waited to make a turn.

As young woman sat opposite me waiting to turn also, a small furry head peaked out the driver’s side window, as the rest of the little dog sat in the lap of the young woman driver, who was oblivious of everything else that was going on around her.

This "jacks my jaw" on more than one point. First off, this young woman is a bad driver, and secondly, she is an even worse pet owner, who is putting her little dog in danger. Not long ago I passed another woman doing the same thing, thinking her dog would never leap from the vehicle. The dog did just that, forcing the woman to stop right in the middle of the road to chase the limping animal down. It wasn’t difficult since not all of its legs worked anymore.

The primary reason not to carry a dog, child, chimpanzee, or other squirming things in your lap while driving is the safety of the vehicles or pedestrians who may be on the road. You need you to be more concerned for them than you are for something licking you in the face while you drive.

I hope that woman made it home without mishap.  Hopefully she will do the dog and all of us on the road a favor next time she gets in her car, and leave the poor thing home, where the dog and the rest of us will be safe from any other bad habits as a driver she may have.