Are Even Reasonable Laws Not Working Anymore?

A while back some old lady hit me in a parking lot. I even wrote a blog post about it because I was angry, but I took it down because I also felt bad. I don't know what happened with her. I can easily imagine I am wrong, and man, do people take advantage of that these days. But, when she yelled at me I said she must have come through there pretty fast. Of course, since she had the right of way and I didn't see her, the insurance company decided in her favor.

But the insurance company would have decided in her favor even if I did see her.

I know this because a different person did something that must have been similar. I had parked on the street and later wanted to pull into my driveway. In order to do so, I had to back up and get away from the curb, meaning I needed to get out into the street more, so I could actually turn into the driveway without hitting the curb. While I was doing this a guy turns onto me street and speeds up, right at me. All I could do was brake. I did not think there was enough space, but luckily he made it by me. Maybe it was my imagination, but I am pretty sure he accelerated right past the twenty five mile speed limit.

I realized the insurance company probably would have paid him too.

This type of thing bothers me, especially the original one with the old lady, because I didn't see her, and I actually hold myself to a freaking standard, so I care about why I didn't see her, and whether or not there was something I could have done. I care about whether or not it was my fault.

Now, I just saw a man take a serious risk with a pretty nice car. The old lady didn't quite make it past me, and now my insurance rates are higher to pay for her Mercedes bumper. What if it isn't my fault? I've just seen how it could be done, with what the man did, plus the fact that it was a busy parking lot. I saw the way was clear in the direction she came from and was paying attention to walking people and other cars. If she acted like the man, she could have easily caused the accident. I didn't expect the man to act that stupidly, and stupid appears to be contagious.

It is so crazy, that I doubt police reports actually reflect facts anymore. You think the police can fathom, anymore than I, the fact that someone with an expensive car will speed up when seeing an obstacle before them? I remember the police officer from the incident with the old lady giving me an extremely strange look. Her eyes actually bugged out at me- a truly rare expression I can't remember seeing anyone else doing.

But if my suspicions are right, maybe it is just that certain people are behaving in ways we just can't believe, and so it is simpler just to think I made a mistake. The insurance companies are doing this all the time, and it may well be the end of them. There's already willful fraud. Then there's ever increasing cell phone use, yet companies have not yet even bothered to start checking- much less mandate people stay off their phones while driving. And now, apparently, people are developing perverse driving habits that have turned right-of-way laws into an external tax on everyone else.