there are a lot of complaints from runners, bikers, joggers, and walkers because drivers are inattentive, inconsiderate selfish shits. and every time somebody posts one, car people reply saying that “pedestrians have to look both ways”! sure we do, but the bulk of the responsibility belongs to the person driving the fucking tonne of metal around! whatever happened to spiderman’s code, with great power comes great responsibility? drivers can’t even be arsed to come to full stops at marked crosswalks–they drift or zip through. what’s the rush? the food and tv will still be there when you lazy fucks get home. not content with wrecking the air, or supporting nasty oil regimes like Saudi Arabia, they seem hellbent on making pedestrian life as unpleasant and perilous as possible, so that we have no choice but to become fat gas-guzzling sacks like them….
This article appears in Aug 14-20, 2008.
I have a healthy respect for pedestrians and bike people, make no mistake about that .I’m the last person who wants or needs to hit a pedestrian or a biker. Here’s the catch though, but this really only applies to bike people not the folks on foot. Those bike people, a certain percentage of them, take advantage of every opportunity to pass cars on the right, left, use the sidewalks when they want, shoot through the red where they find the space, ad nauseam. Those are the people that I take no sympathy in. If you are going to use the tarmac for travelling,( bike cheaters ) I suggest obey the rules like the rest of us, or just fuck off and stay home, call in sick ,what ever
Burning Man if for the sidewalks you’re referring to the idiots that ride rather than walk their bikes I’m with you. I almost feel like clotheslining the next idiot who tries to zip by me like that.
I have to admit, I drive to work and back daily, I live in bedford so I drive to downtown Halifax. Over the weekend some moron decided to dart in front of me and start running across the street without looking. Thankfully I was only going 25km/h. I managed to stop in time. He started running from my side of the street. J-walking mind you. I find that a lot of people seem to lack that certain thing we call common sense.
i’m with you on this one, OP… motorists have an outrageously inflated sense of entitlement on the roads, and when they get in their cars, they become the centre of the goddamn universe. what they are forgetting is that a license to operate a motor vehicle is a PRIVILEGE (not a right), and when they get behind the wheel, they also take on an enormous responsibility (for the lives of those around them) to drive DEFENSIVELY (not offensively, like so many assholes do).
I always find this type of complaint so amusing. In what greener-than-thou utopian universe did you fly in from (in your zero-emission-built-out-of-recycled-pop-can rocketship of course.)?I suppose that in a perfect world we’d all live downtown and walk to our job at the Greenpeace/Fair-trade coffee co-op, but that simply doesn’t make sense for a town the size of Hfx. Don’t blame car drivers for poor urban planning. Just because I drive doesn’t mean I’m a “lazy fuck” as you put it. I always stop for pedestrians at crosswalks, obey posted speed limits, and am careful around bike riders. I am not fat or lazy, and I rush home to watch TV. I HAVE to drive, but try to limit how much.Re: The gas-guzzling comment: Just where do you think your food comes from anyway? The building materials for your home? The clothes on your back? Some “lazy fuck” delivered it to your neighbourhood store so you could walk there and feel virtuous doing so.
oops…should’ve wrote: “I DON”T rush home to watch TV”
@Tasha, it’s encouraging to hear that i am not the only person who thinks that ‘urban planning’ in HRM is a pathetic joke… more like urban wasteland, imo.a couple friends of mine who studied at Dal’s School of Planning ended up leaving the city (the province actually) in utter disgust at the lack of vision and political/corrupt bullshit that permeates EVERYTHING here. basically, if you’ve got any good ideas on urban planning and development, take them elsewhere, because HRM officials don’t care.
Spider-Man doesn’t even follow his mantra. He’d sell his soul for selfish needs to cover up a mistake he made. In fact it recently happened……*cough*I mean, I in a car is actually generally at a LOWER vantage point than a pedestrian. In fact, crouch a little and walk and see if you can see if anyone is behind a car.The pedestrian has the MOST to lose by not ensuring that a car sees them. I am AMAZED at how people in this city are so nonchallant about their life when they zig and zagged through the streets. I walk on occasion and there is NO WAY in hell I am zipping through traffic hoping that cars will brake for me. Fuck that, I want to LIVE!