I suffered a minor parking-lot collision today at a grocery store. A selfish jerk driving a pristine-white 4x4 pickup was in a hurry to get out of the lot, clipped the rear of my parked car (which is old enough to have its own driver's license), and drove off — no doubt hoping he hadn't been seen. He put a minor crack in the rear brakelight cover.
It was a business truck, so I've got a good idea how to contact him. I won't be doing so, however, on the basis of two things: The NRA sticker on his bumper and the license-plate frame asking "Who Is John Galt?" Not exactly who I expect to take personal responsibility for anything…
But that leads to another observation. Over all the decades I've been driving, I've learned in each area what kind of vehicles to avoid because they're disproportionately dangerous to other traffic. Back in the Iron Age, it was Caddys and Lincolns and taxicabs. Now, it's Beamers… and white whales. White SUVs, pickups, and vans seem to have a disproportionate share of road ownership interests, not to mention being difficult to see around in parking lots, and the cleaner and shinier they are the more arrogant the driving. Maybe I should get a personalized plate P3QU0D; or maybe not, given the Pequod's fate.