Don’t get upset by the Hollister mid-block stop
We’ve all encountered it on the streets of Hollister
– driving up on the vehicle that has done the mid-block stop so
the driver can talk to one of his or her friends.
Don’t get upset by the Hollister mid-block stop
We’ve all encountered it on the streets of Hollister – driving up on the vehicle that has done the mid-block stop so the driver can talk to one of his or her friends.
Sometimes it’s two cars facing in opposite directions, with the drivers hanging their heads out the window to share gossip or some other tidbit of information.
Sometimes it’s one car that is stopped in the middle of the street with a person standing outside the driver’s window.
People not used to this local custom surely get irritated with the chatty driver that created his own stop in a residential area. Perhaps they pull up behind the conversationalist, wait a minute, and then honk their horn. Maybe they slowly drive by, shooting a dirty look at the talkers to let them know what they are doing is wrong.
Many of us who have been here awhile and are used to this custom are more understanding of the practice. If we come up on a car stopped in the middle of the road with another person standing outside the driver’s window, we recognize it as “Hollister talk” and slowly drive around the car.
We aren’t angered by the slight detour; we don’t honk or flip the bird or shoot them a dirty look. We just drive on.
The practiced drivers who do the mid-block stop keep an eye out for cars coming up behind them so they can wave them around the scene by sticking their arm out the window like they were a flag man at a Caltrans construction site.
This serves as both an apology for the inconvenience and an acknowledgement that there is some important news to share that couldn’t possibly wait until the driver pulled off to the side of the road.
My newsroom colleague who lives in Gilroy commented this week how friendly people are on the streets of Hollister.
“I’ve notice that when a person is crossing the street drivers always stop to let them go by,” she said, almost bewildered by the practice. “In Gilroy, we’ll be halfway across the street walking our dog and drivers will just continue through the intersection. Here, it seems that people are much more polite than anyplace else I’ve driven.”
Wow, a Gilroy person complimenting Hollister while throwing her own town under the bus – nice. To be fair, she has worked here for a few years and she actually cares about our town, so we can consider her an honorary Hollisterite.
As a person who has worked downtown on and off for the past 16 years, I’ve noticed that drivers don’t stop for pedestrians as much as they used to, but it is still a relatively common practice for drivers to yield to walkers.
Planned changes to San Benito Street once the state formally hands control over of the road to the city should make it an even safer and more pleasant experience for pedestrians, as more crosswalks are installed and the parking patterns change.
So if you come across a car (or two) stopped in the middle of the road with the driver engaged in deep conversation with someone else, understand that it’s another of those “it’s just Hollister” moments.
There’s no need to honk or curse or show a certain finger. Just slowly drive around and hope that you hear the juicy gossip from one of your friends in the middle of the next street.
