Nearly roadkill on a mall parking lot.

Would people please please please, look ahead when they are driving? You know, there just might be people there that you might run down and kill ?

I had this most scary incident at Factoria mall (Bellevue, WA), Sunday afternoon.

I had parked our car and was walking across the mall parking lot, to Rite-Aid. I was crossing the final 2-car-length stretch before reaching the sidewalk, when I saw an SUV coming about 15 feet to my right. Now, I distrust car drivers - being a cyclist - and so I looked in that direction to see what the driver was going to do.

She slowed down, and I thought she had seen me, and hence was slowing down. I started to cross that expanse to get to the relative safety of the sidewalk and had barely taken three steps, when the woman rapidly accelarated. Her tires made the rough noise of (almost) losing rubber, and she came straight for me, at about 20-25 miles an hour!

I saw her looking to the left, at the parking spaces, and as I froze momentarily in horror, the car was heading straight for me. I thought I was a dead man! A split second later, I came to my senses and covered the next few paces in a sprint. The woman missed me by about 5 inches, and stopped exactly OVER where I was about a second ago.

I was extremely upset and yelled at her using the oft-used four-letter word. I also proceeded to question the sanity of the person who granted her, her driving license. She however, had the civility of rolling down her window and saying "Sorry!". But, as we all know, Sorry doesn't make dead men come alive. I was pretty peeved, as I walked away, and the woman just drove away. I didn't write down her license plate, as I should have. That would have helped me complain about her to the police.

Listen up all you car drivers: Everyday people walk, bike around, and are NOT in protective cages as you are, so when you run over them, you will KILL them. They are vulnerable, and so please pay attention. Please! Your voice mail, your email, your GPS can wait. Don't shave your face or your legs when you drive and STOP applying your make up. Don't look away from the road when you reach for the Radio or CD player. DONT look at the movie playing in the vehicle in front of you. DONT yak on the cellphone. You are driving a killing machine.

One more thing, that whole bit about your life flashing before your eyes in near-death moments.... ain't true. Or maybe, just maybe I wasn't as close to death as I needed to be to get that experience. ;)

Watch out on the roads, pay attention and and look AHEAD.