Crosswalks exist at intersections, marked or not. I’ve had at least two asshat drivers in the past week nearly run me over while crossing the street – in both cases they had STOPPED (looking for an opportunity to make a left turn) and proceeded to try to put on their gas again WHILE I WAS HALFWAY ACROSS THE ROAD. Seriously? WTF? I have the right of way and trying to run me over is not going to make me walk any faster.
—a pedestrian
This article appears in Aug 6-12, 2009.
you,as an adult are worth only 2 points to a driver,according to death race 2000 movie.seriously tho,i’ve had idiots almost run me down daily,in fairview.there is a law in the motor vehicle handbook that states a pedestrian must be fully clear of a crosswalk before a driver can procede.when the hell did that change,i may ask.the cops see it,and don’t do squat about it either.one idiot missed me by about an inch last month,and on a phone,at that.this is a message to all drivers considering using any area in fairview,where i reside at.YOU HIT ME,YOU WILL DIE,I WILL BEAT YOUR FUCKEN SKULL IN WITH MY LAST BREATHE.AND IF I DON’T GET MY HANDS ON YOU,I WILL KICK THE FUCK OUT OF YOUR CAR AS YOU GO PAST ME.YOU FUCKEN KNOW ME ASSHOLES,YOU SEE ME JUST ABOUT EVERYDAY,AT THE SAME CROSS LIGHT.LET YOURSELVES BE WARNED.
this should make for interesting evening news
As a pedestrian you should try to make eye contact with drivers before crossing the street, especially at unmarked crosswalks. That being said drivers do not respect crosswalks or pedestrians in this town. Many drivers have tunnel vision which doesn’t let them see anything more than the 25′ of roadway directly in front of their vehicle. You have to be very attentive to what drivers are doing while you’re out walking because most of them aren’t paying any attention whatsoever to their surroundings.
let’s face it, probably about half the drivers on the road – should not be.
legally, the onus is on the motorist to drive defensively, but many drivers have no clue what that means, they are barely attentive to anything beyond their immediate field of view. then there are the real assholes who speed around like aggressive maniacs, often blabbering away on their mobile phones.
unfair as it may be, it’s really up to the pedestrian to get the driver’s attention *before* entering the crosswalk, if you want to stay ALIVE, that is. there are just too many bad drivers on the roads, so don’t take chances, even if you are entitled to cross.
it would be nice to have a portable vaporizing cannon though… just for those special occasions. POOF! buhbye bad driver!
Make eye contact with the driver. I do make an effort to stop when I see someone waiting to cross at a street corner, however if you don’t make eye contact and assume that I’ve seen you, I probably haven’t seen you at all. If you are wearing very light/very dark coloured clothing, keep in mind that it is HARD to see you if you just walk out into traffic.
Also, if there is a crosswalk on the OTHER side of the intersection, or less than 30 seconds away, I’m most likely not going to stop.. there’s a MARKED crosswalk where you are definitely safe right there.
did you press the button?
ALSO
just because you are on a cross walk doesnt mean you can go in theory yes! but not always the case
The law is an ass, particularly the section about every intersection being a crossing. Time for Darrell to wipe it out. Mark a crosswalk and make it the only legal place to cross. And add the requirement to ‘walk briskly across the intersection’. Ambling doesn’t cut it.
And get off the damn cellphone and quit fiddling with your black berry – drivers and pedestrians.
oh yes, good idea. By default tell every pedestrian where they can put their feet as opposed to keeping each TRAINED and formally LICENSED driver aware of traffic law. Good idea, Joe Blow. Now give your head a shake.
Joeblow said, “Mark a crosswalk and make it the only legal place to cross.”
so, does that mean aggressives arsehole drivers (like yourself perhaps?) should get to run down a pedestrian when they attempt to cross ‘illegally’?
as a (full-time) pedestrian myself, i want to see MORE marked crossing lanes at EVERY intersection. and just because lazy twats like you prefer to haul your fat arses around in a car, doesn’t mean that those of us who have to WALK where we need to go, should have to always yield the right of way to motorists with an over-inflated sense of entitlement. YOU don’t own the fucking road, buddy!
“And add the requirement to ‘walk briskly across the intersection’. Ambling doesn’t cut it.”
ahh fuckoff, a few more seconds isn’t going to ruin your day. we practically have to RUN to get across the street as it is. the walk signal flashes for what, about 15 or 20 seconds, if we’re lucky. especially at large intersections, like Robie & Cunard or Cogswell & N.Park/Gottingen/Brunswick, etc – there is barely enough time to cross, and i’m fit/able-bodied. so what about the elderly or less able-bodied persons… should they have to ‘walk briskly’ too?? c’mon grandma… pick up the pace!!! impatient arsehole, Joeblow, needs to get to Timmies for his donut fix. pfft!
Scrubsgirl, if I’m at an intersection and a crosswalk is 30 seconds away I’m still going to cross where I want. Marked crosswalks are no more legal than unmarked ones and it’s time that drivers learn the law. I’m not going to walk the extra 30 seconds to end up on the wrong side of the road of where I want to go, and having to cross another intersection.
I make eye contact with drivers when I’m crossing, but when they still put their gas on inch by inch as I’m crossing their obviously a) idiots who don’t know the law or b) idiots who are trying to make me walk ‘faster’.