Asshole drivers

You know, I'm honestly not sure whether it's precognition or just the universe fucking with me (or maybe a little of both), but sometimes I'll make a comment that seems to come from nowhere, and shortly thereafter the statement becomes reality.  I don't even have to be consciously aware of what I'm saying - and that's a real pisser because it doesn't always register that this signals approaching trouble.  It's happened with power outages, phone calls, deaths and various other events . . . and it happened again a couple of weeks ago.

It was a beautiful day, and Oldest Son asked if he could borrow my scooter (the one that I hope will grow up to be a real motorcycle someday) to ride into town.  He's done it many a time and knows what he's doing - always wears helmet, gloves, sturdy jacket, etc. - so I usually don't worry.  Well, okay, I do worry, but that's my prerogative as his mother.  I just don't obsess over it.  Usually.  But for some reason that day I suggested he might ought to put on his jeans rather than wear his good pants, as they'd protect him more in case he took a tumble.

I should have known something would happen.  Or maybe I did, and just didn't consciously recognize it.

Well, about an hour later he came in, changed into his work clothes, stuck his head into the throw-it-in-there-and-let-mom-deal-with-it-room where I was working on the computer, made a pithy comment about reckless drivers, and told me a car went to pass him and then pulled back in almost on top of him, forcing him onto the shoulder.  As is usual for him, he doled out the details in bits and pieces, which, taken individually, didn't seem like much.  But eventually he got to the part where he went OFF the scooter and into the ditch.

WTF?!?  Okay, now he had my full attention.

The good news is, the car didn't actually hit him, he went off the road where the ditch was much shallower than it is where I *thought* he'd dumped it, and he didn't end up going head-first over the front fork.  No big rocks or barbed wire were involved either, which were a real possibility along other stretches of the road into town.  He did have a couple of small cuts (which he did not tell me about, I had to find that out from the investigating officer!), but no major injuries.  

Because he was injured, it means the asshole responsible for shoving him off the road could be charged with a felony rather than just a misdemeanor; leaving the scene of an injury-accident that you've caused kicks the charges up to another level in most jurisdictions.  The problem is going to be in finding the responsible party.  Oldest Son was - understandably! - too busy trying to control the scooter and protect himself during the fall to get a tag number, or even a good description of the car.  I think in a situation like that most of us would probably have their attention on where and how hard they're going to land.  Not that there's always time to do more than recognize that you are going down before you land....

I'm just grateful that the car didn't actually hit him, and that he wasn't hurt worse than he was.  Poor kid apologized for scratching up my scooter - like he had any choice in the matter!  The scooter can be fixed, assuming we ever get around to it.  The damage is purely cosmetic, and I've scratched it up myself on more than one occasion over the last couple of years.  Sand and gravel are not your friends when you're on two wheels.

Like I told the investigating officer, I'd really like to find whoever ran him off the road and "discuss" it with them with a fist, or maybe a baseball bat.  He pointed out that it'd mean Mom would get hauled off to jail.  Yeah, well, it'd be worth it, because the bastard could have killed my son!  I think the officer understood - he just grinned at me.  I'm betting he has kids of his own, you know?