Is this a fair comparison?
Okay, this is sad. I need to get a life. I compare a lot of things to driving. While walking I check my blind spot before moving to the other side of the aisle or sidewalk. In the grocery store I scan the intersecting aisles for other shoppers before I cross through them. How many of you do the same thing? Please tell me it’s more than me!
The other day while picking up a few items at the grocery store, I saw a shopper with a shopping cart running into things. She was bumping into the stands that hold the produce. She was bumping into other shoppers and into other shopping carts. At first I thought she wasn’t paying enough attention to what she was doing, but as I continued to walk throughout the store, I realized she didn’t know how to push the cart. I know that’s hard to believe, but that’s what it looked like.
Now I’m concerned that this shopper may drive like they shop. She was looking at the objects she was hitting. Ironically, where you look is where you go. I wanted to give her advice so the other shoppers were safe to walk around freely throughout the store. But on the other hand, I’m a driving instructor, not a shopping cart instructor. Thinking back, I should have counted how many things she hit with her cart, but I couldn’t count that high. She was also hitting things because she was looking elsewhere.
As a driver, we can become distracted while sight-seeing. I’ve seen drivers drift out of their lane as they look at beautiful homes and landscapes. Can you imagine the crashes that could happen if a lot of drivers looked at things outside their vehicle and forgot they were actually driving? Window shopping drivers would be the worst! Which reminds me; let’s get back to this shopper.
At one point, she went between another shopper and a display the shopper was looking at. There wasn’t enough room for her to do this, but she tried anyway. I could see her doing this as a driver. Driving down a narrow street and trying to squeeze between 2 parked vehicles. Do we use common sense every time we drive? I know there are times when we make a choice, only realizing we need to change our plan. Changing plans is a very common driving task that all drivers need to master. Going around a problem is better than going through it. I was tempted to ask this shopper how her driving was and how many collisions she has had over her lifetime of driving, but I didn’t.
I realized it was difficult to avoid watching her. It was similar to drivers staring at other crashes as they drive by them. The only good news was that I was behind her and she couldn’t hit me. I was also glad she wasn’t my neighbour or a former student of mine!
I hope she walked home! I look around where ever I am too, visual skills are visual skills. Nothing wrong with being aware of your surroundings, no matter where you are.
Very true! I have these exact same thoughts, almost as if I was interviewed for this article! And just so you know, you are not alone , I too watch the “intersections” in the stores!
I know some carts can be difficult, I often tend to find ones with stuck wheels, impossible to steer well. However grocery stores and chain stores are often overcrowding aisles with skids or displays and there simply is not room for more than 1 person/cart to move through anywhere.
If I were ever a fire marshall, so many places would be fined and/or reprimanded, we have to have the ability as citizens to leave a facility safely, filling aisles with skids prevents that.
With a cart that has 4 good wheels I drive them pretty well, but there’s always someone (inobservant of course) that stops in your path and you whack their feet. I know they are not noisy, but they are not silent either.
You should discuss Blocked Intersections and why staying back is safer. Even though I did that, an impatient Motorist hit me anyway as he felt he was impeded despite having nowhere to go.
You are not alone Scott. I do this all the time. I compare eveything to driving. Walking in general should use the same concepts and there would never be a problem. For example walk on the right pass on the left! Enter a store on the right leave on the left! Simple concepts right? These days common sence is not so common. I think the only way to improve these behaviours is to start teaching our kids and maybe one day they’re communities will be safer! I hope 🙂
I did this, and continue to do so. (use driving habits while walking or pushing a shopping cart — not bump into everything I look at and should be avoiding. I find many people do not possess “situational awareness”… they just don\t realize they are blocking an aisle, or about to bump into someone/something.