The Blythe Pedestrian
There is a new social phenomenon afoot: The blithe pedestrian. Increasingly I approach an intersection--or, worse, a pedestrian crosswalk--with trepidation as I expect any and all possible pedestrian behavior in the face of my 4200 pound car as it hurtles towards him. It appears they feel as if the walkways have a certain magic that shields pedestrians from injury. Most step into the crosswalks without even looking.
I was pulling out of a parking lot recently and planning to turn left. It was night, dark and the road I was joining was heavily traveled. There was a long parking lane left and right with traffic going both ways, light to light, on the block. I inched across the sidewalk on to the mantle and then nosed into the street to see around the parked cars. It looked free on the right, the traffic looked to be stopped by the light on the left. I moved a little further into the street to turn left when I, obsessively, rechecked the traffic to the right. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a pedestrian to my right, who had approached on the sidewalk as I was maneuvering my way out. He did not stop but confidently stepped to his right off the sidewalk into the street to pass in front of me. I almost hit him.
No one with any understanding of cars, traffic or driving would have done that.
Maybe Uber is creating a auto-naïve generation. You will be able to identify them by their casts
There is a new social phenomenon afoot: The blithe pedestrian. Increasingly I approach an intersection--or, worse, a pedestrian crosswalk--with trepidation as I expect any and all possible pedestrian behavior in the face of my 4200 pound car as it hurtles towards him. It appears they feel as if the walkways have a certain magic that shields pedestrians from injury. Most step into the crosswalks without even looking.
I was pulling out of a parking lot recently and planning to turn left. It was night, dark and the road I was joining was heavily traveled. There was a long parking lane left and right with traffic going both ways, light to light, on the block. I inched across the sidewalk on to the mantle and then nosed into the street to see around the parked cars. It looked free on the right, the traffic looked to be stopped by the light on the left. I moved a little further into the street to turn left when I, obsessively, rechecked the traffic to the right. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a pedestrian to my right, who had approached on the sidewalk as I was maneuvering my way out. He did not stop but confidently stepped to his right off the sidewalk into the street to pass in front of me. I almost hit him.
No one with any understanding of cars, traffic or driving would have done that.
Maybe Uber is creating a auto-naïve generation. You will be able to identify them by their casts
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