Hit It and Quit It!

Paragraphs by Paul Miller

In light of the horribly violent "sideshows" of young street racing boneheads in Oakland and other Bay Area cities, a glance at driving goofiness along San Anselmo's Butterfield Road is a leap.  It's like writing about the dangers of a slippery floor in the restroom at Macys in a Corte Madera mall that is ablaze. 

Nevertheless, danger is danger.  Two days ago on Butterfield, here comes a black Beemer slowly across the road's yellow double inexorably aimed head-on at my truck. The driver was checking her cell phone with the same hand that was on her leather covered steering wheel.  The blast of my horn made her scowl, but she did move back where she belonged, still staring at the phone in her hand  A month or so earlier a teenage driver, visibly enraged, rifled across Butterfield's double line to pass me in contempt of a 25-per-hour restriction near a Brookside School crossing.  Maybe it is I who merely imagines that there is a double line on Butterfield.  Even the deer, which usually see and smell everything, often do not see the line. Some Butterfield driver killed one this summer, looked back, and drove away.  At least she stayed on her side of the street.  During the hour before school starts, herds of kids and moms and dads on bicycles precariously ride close to Butterfield's white protective bike lane line. Car, truck, and bus drivers are all very careful of the herd's wobbly unskilled bike riders: namely, the adult riders.  The kids ride with confidence and grace. Their guides and mentors, by contrast, ride like its Christmas morning and they are trying out Santa's best gift for the first time.

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Long time Marinite Paul Miller was editorial cartoonist for the Marin IJ, sports cartoonist for the Novato Advance, a cover cartoonist for the Pacific Sun, and is currently a cartoonist illustrator for The Ark.   He's had cartoons published in the San Francisco Chronicle and his surf paintings have been published on the Surfriders Foundation website. He joins MoreMarin as a contributing editorial cartoonist.

Miller, a former Marine and UCLA graduate, taught a cartooning course in the art department at the College of Marin. His paintings and drawings are in private collections in California, Arizona, Washington, Hawaii, Texas, Florida and Provence, France. Miller's book, A Cartoonist's Guide to Prostate Cancer, was described by Dr. Dean Edell as "a must for any man facing prostate cancer!"

Comments

[Bob Justice]

I am proud to say that I know this grouchy, old codger. Even so, he is, unfortunately, absolutely correct about drivers on Butterfield and most other streets in Marin. It seems that most think they are entitled to most of the road since they pay taxes to the county. The same is true of many bike riders on the streets as well. The trouble with them is, if they are involved in an accident with a stray cat they are going to come out number two!