Dear editor:
This past Wednesday, two weeks post-surgery and feeling slightly vulnerable, I made my way to a critical doctor’s appointment. I pulled into a parallel parking spot along Lonsdale Avenue and went to exit my car. I looked out my driver’s side window to see a black Mercedes perpendicular to my vehicle (across three lanes of Lonsdale) with a man yelling expletives at me. If he had put his foot on the gas, he would have slammed directly into me in my seat.
Just then, the parking spot in front of my car became available, so the Mercedes finished his four-lane U-turn to take this spot. Concerned about his driving ability and most certainly his rage, I exited my car and waited tentatively. By this time, three Good Samaritans who had witnessed the scene came out of the nearby coffee shop to stand by my side as we watched the man’s inept attempt at parallel parking, which ended with him bashing into my car. Leaving his parked car two-thirds of the way into the Lonsdale southbound lane, he jumped out of his car and continued ranting at me, unaware that he had even hit my car.
At this point, I was definitely feeling shaken. Two of the Good Samaritans stood by my side, reassuring me that they would be witnesses for me, while the third took the Mercedes man to task, telling him “it is illegal to do a U-turn across four lanes of Lonsdale to get a parking spot, AND you just hit her car!”
I would have felt unsafe standing my ground alone with this man and asking for his driver’s information. Fortunately, I had community backup. I was nearly in tears, not so much because of the car situation, but because of how kind these three people were to step in to protect me and confront this man. I want to say thank-you to the three kind souls (Parisa, Tim, and one other whose name I did not get) who exemplify what it means to be good citizens and who help to make the North Shore a kinder, safer place.
T.E. Davies
North Vancouver
