To the cars that almost run me over at the intersection near MSVU: fuck you. This is possibly the worst crosswalk in Halifax. There have been multiple times I have pushed the button, waited for a car to stop, then a car in the opposite direction comes zooming by, almost hitting me. Can’t you see that the light is blinking and someone is crossing in a CROSSWALK? —Not a Jaywalker
This article appears in Feb 18-24, 2010.
I had one of the happiest moments of my life yesterday.
My kids and their mom are waiting to cross the street, and my little girl has her hand up waiting at the curb.
Nearest lane stops, and two cars continue through on the other side, including one who makes eye contact, smirks and keeps going.
The third car stops and they begin to cross. I start waving at the driver of the third car and pointing at the smug fuck who, stopped at a red light 25 ft away, just went through the crosswalk.
He looks at me, nods, hits his lights, and pulls him over for a nice little $394.50 fine!
HAHA fucktard, maybe if you were paying attention you would seen the cop behind you!
that brings tears to my eyes…beautiful and a hefty fine to boot, people like that don’t tend to use their mirrors unless they’re looking at themselves
idiots can’t drive, text, and talk on the phone while putting in another c.d., you should know that. next time, thump side of car, let them think they hit you, and go apeshit on them, if and when they stop.
Nice Matthew, I had a situation where I got to view someone do something incredibly stupid and then get pulled over for it recently too. It was fantastic.
What’s the deal with cars zooming through crosswalks this week?
– A woman wasn’t paying attention and turned while I was crossing. I just stopped and through my arms up.
– Two cars sped through as I crossed and the overhead lights were flashing. Again, had to stop, threw my arms up, yelled what the fuck.
– And the best – some moron beeped at me as I was crossing and yes, overhead lights were flashing. In fact he had just turned off a side street and as he was waiting at the stop sign, I was right beside him pushing the button.
WTF? Were pedestrian rights taken away this month?
OP, I know exactly what you mean. I’ve gotten into the habit of holding my breath every time I press the button to cross in front of MSVU at night. My aunt, who attended the uni 20+ years ago, said it’s always been this way. 😛
Maybe if the MSVU student council tried hard enough, the lights could be lowered to make them more visible. I wouldn’t count on them, though. Ugh.
I thought those lights were to be lowered? I remember back in Fall 08 that being said, funny how our city loves to make a promise on safety and yet don’t deliver…
piratejenny, I agree. I attend MSVU. and it’s too bad that the MSVU student council does shit, let alone city council.
Get a pedestrian overpass! Another option would be to make them like proper traffic lights, like they have on Quinpool Road at some crosswalks and in other cities.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, even though yes, I know you all know it: Halifax has some of the most courteous drivers out of anywhere I’ve ever been. Cars are more likely to stop for you to allow you to cross the street than almost anywhere else in the world.
In Italy, they maybe slow down a little bit and assume that you’ll get out of the way before they hit you. In Toronto, they honk at you if you’re not crossing the street fast enough. In many other countries, you literally take your life into your hands whether you have “the right of way” or not!
Matthew- awesome story. There IS justice in the world, even if it presents itself sporadically…. Nice interpretation as well… “driver of the third car”.. nice
OP, I think this has been addressed within these forums countless times. In fact, haven’t people actually been hit (on more than one occasion) at this “crosswalk?” Seriously, how can nothing have been done about this by now? I would go through all channels possible to get this straightened out. Try and contact Alexa McDonough herself…. MLA, MP, minister of transportation Bill Estabrooks… whatever. I mean, I’m not one to urge on overkill, but it’s only a matter of time before the next inattentive driver ends up taking someone’s life.
Apparently the student council never keeps notes on why they keep getting turned down about this.
If you want to be safer go to the lights at flamingo to cross, city council will not be removing the crosswalk and have the students cross at the lights, if they did that students will continue to jaywalk. And I’m sure the students will continue to complain.
A couple options -have the bus pull in to the school and exit through the side streets and out the intersection at the lights.
-remove the crosswalk and make the student walk to the lights to cross.
Lowering the lights or an overpass will not happen on Halifax’s busiest highway. There needs to be access for large loads to reach Halifax.
The last thing the highway needs is another set of lights.
Cross that crosswalk with great care, both cars and people, or walk to the lights. Quit complaining.
IF you’d just stay on the sidewalk you could never get hit or almost hit in a crosswalk.
So the simple solution here is …don’t cross the street in the first place.
It’s MORPHING TIME!!!!!!
go go power rangers…
just do a kick-flip off the nearest tree and fly across the road.
that or the less comprehensible…
don’t cross the street.
I’ll just only cross at places near thick woods. Then I can take a chainsaw and cut down a few trees. Similar to Jesus I can then make the cars part down the middle as I safely cross?
It would work.
Having the bus pull into MSVU wouldn’t be the worst idea in the word for at least the 18.
It still only ranks as the 2nd worst crosswalk in my opinion, at least until they install a crossing button at Pleasant & Carlton by Shearwater. It’s a 4 lane crossing, and heading towards the Passage, it’s just past a bus stop. The combination of no lights and people stepping over their mother to get past the bus that’s stopped near it and is blocking the view of the person crossing makes it the most dangerous IMO.
Balls, yeah- your suggestion to walk up to Flamingo and cross is one I am sure many students would be eager to consider. Almost as much as not crossing the street in the first place, like More has suggested. I mean, they can just hop on a bus going the other way until there is a safer place to cross, get off the bus and cross to another bus stop! It’s perfect. Maybe the Mount can even supply a shuttle to take the students to the other side of the road….
If the students are looking for a safer crossing, that would be one option. So it’s not really about safety for the students it’s more about convenience? This topic comes up every year. The suggestion to cross at the lights comes up and the students realize that what they have isn’t so bad. Or the risk isn’t worth the extra walking.
Maybe a crossings guard to hold their hands?
I see you understood some of that ramble, impressive.
we should just have moose-crossing there. get a few moose to safely transport the people across. you don’t fuck with a moose.
and that;s because the alternative of providing everyone a moose would just be preposterous…and wasteful of the moose’s (meese?) time when not in use.
Looks like either way it is lose/lose…. Students need to get to the other side of the street to catch busses going toward Clayton Park/Bedford. Unfortunately that is the ONLY reason. There IS a crosswalk there which should, idealistically, make everyone feel safe about crossing the street. The problem really is not the fact that the crosswalk is unsafe (a crosswalk unsafe…. really?), but that motorists have a hard time obeying it. Whether it’s that it is too high, the lights are not bright enough, whatever….. if there is a crosswalk somewhere, why is the city OK with it being a dangerous one? Suggesting students walk up to a traffic light to cross the street when there has been a pedestrian crossing put in place is just a pat answer. Maybe a traffic camera could be implemented that records the crosswalk when the button is pushed. That way anyone who drives through it when the lights are still going would be held accountable by way of having their plates recorded on film. Dunno…. could be productive.
yeah, I hear they’re loving that in LN.
At the lights it narrows down to two lanes from three. The bus stop could be moved closer to the lights as well reducing the back trek.
Yes some crosswalks carry more risk then others. This one crosses the busiest highway in the province, multiple lanes and the majority of people crossing it are young. Not a good combo.
Lowering lights, building over or under will not happen.
Cameras to catch the faces of the jaywalkers and runners and texters would help too.
my favourite story about pulling unsuspecting fucks over was a guy my dad got. christmas morning my dad is sitting at a light in his unmarked cruiser. he gets an advanced light and the guy across from him blows the red light and past my father, my father puts his arms up like what are you thinking, young punk gives the old man the finger…..next thing you know the kid is shaking so hard he cant pull his license out of his wallet. so my father says to the kid “you KNOW that i had an advance green and you went through the red light, then WHAT did you do. the kid responds, i gave you the finger sir. so my dad asks him, what he would do if he was the police officer. the kid responds, id break my finger off and shove it up my smart ass. my dad smiles and says “you NEVER know who you are flipping off, merry christmas”
i like your dad cuja, cool story