Traffic Cop

Today the building I work in had the annual fire drill. This is a big deal for us. We have to move 130+ vulnerable adults out the door, through the parking lot and out to the street. We're talking huge deficits in street safety skills here. Plus we have to get them back in again safely. Most of the people can walk but others use wheelchairs, canes, or walkers. Some of the people who can walk have difficulty walking on uneven surfaces or for any long distance. Some are wheeled out in desk chairs because they can't stand for a long time. Because we have had difficulty with vehicles trying to leave the parking lot and drive through our crowd of vulnerable people during previous drills, we asked a couple staff from the food shelf to assist us by stopping traffic. These people tried to stop the traffic but the drivers would not listen. They pushed past the staff (who were wearing lime green safety vests, as was I) and drove through our crowd. What the heck? They could see the parking lot was crowded with people. They could see the green vested people were motioning for them to stop. Yet they continued. One of the vehicles disregarding our helper's prompts to wait was a school bus driver! You'd think a school bus driver would be more concerned about pedestrian safety. I do not understand . Just because you're driving a car in a parking lot does not mean you can proceed no matter what is happening right in front of your eyes. Some people were honking. When I saw a tan Saturn try to nose her way through our crowd of vulnerable people and split them into two groups, I got angry. I planted my back end a couple inches in front of that car and stood there. The driver crept up to me. She nearly touched my leg with her front bumper. I didn't care. Oh, I can be assertive when the occassion calls for it and this occassion called for it. I was reminded of that traffic officer who was pushed by a football player. This driver did not push me but when the wind blew to the east the fabric of my pants was touching her vehicle-that is how close she was. I should have made her wait a few unnecessary moments. Some people cheese me off.