Here we go again. DOT is inundating our village with a plethora of pedestrian crossing signals. Most likely this is happening across the state and the country, since it is a federal safety edict. It just proves how stupid they think we are. Too stupid to know enough to look both ways before crossing a street! Something kids from my day, and well beyond, learned to do before they were five.<\/p>\n
We did! We walked to school, crossing several intersections on our way, starting in kindergarten. And, we were far from child prodigies!<\/p>\n
The nanny state we suffer under also urges us not to J-walk. \u201cAlways cross at the corner!\u201d And now, more and more, at a corner with a button to push and a control box loaded with artificial intelligence, telling us when to cross. Often, with a robotic voice saying, \u201cWait, Wait, Wait,\u201d until the go signal comes on.<\/p>\n
I find the whole thing insulting, and dangerous! If you cross at a corner, press the \u201cI\u2019m too stupid to know when to cross\u201d button and think it\u2019s safe to go when the light comes on. You\u2019re not; you are more likely to get run over than if you crossed in the middle of the block and looked both ways; Jay-Walked!<\/p>\n
It\u2019s that \u201cright on red\u201d rule that will get you run down; especially now when many drivers forget the \u201cafter stopping\u201d part of the rule. The driver turning right on red is looking to the left; as soon as it\u2019s free of traffic, off he goes, right into a pedestrian coming from the right. He never looks in that direction! The poor pedestrian thinks it\u2019s safe to cross, the traffic signal told him so.<\/p>\n
We need to teach DRIVERS to look both ways! Not just the pedestrians. Then it might be safe to cross at the corner. In the meantime, middle of the block is safest. Right on red and cell phones are a deadly combination for us poor pedestrians. The question isn\u2019t, \u201cWhy did the chicken cross the road?\u201d It\u2019s \u201cHow on earth did the chicken make it to the other side?\u201d<\/p>\n