Doesn't this look peaceful and safe?Wasn’t this what that robot said on the TV show “Lost in Space?” You know the one with that annoying Mr. Smith – the wimp from hell? The show itself was pretty cheesy but many of us watched it each week and found something worthwhile to keep us coming back. Something about those TV shows that just had considerable staying power.
Today we find a show we like, we program ourselves to be home and ready for it and for a week or two we really enjoy ourselves and then, for reasons we never do understand, the sucker is cancelled and the reason was poor ratings! Who in hell rates these shows – they sure as hell didn’t ask us, now did they?
Anyway this didn’t start out to be about TV shows – no, it’s about how dangerous it is to walk on our sidewalks or cross our streets. We got a guy in Canton who was hit IN the crosswalk – then sometime yesterday a young gal was again in the crosswalk, riding her bike and she too was hit by a car!
Okay, the crosswalks in Canton need some attention, you can’t have this electronic walk – don’t walk sign that only applies to one side of the street – I mean, when the sign says; “walk” that means all traffic should stop, right? I mean, come on, this happens in Potsdam all the time and drives us nuts but we ain’t running folks down! As for the Norwood accident the driver said he didn’t see the person and you know what, that is entirely possible.
We seem to be wearing the darkest clothing possible when we are out and about and I’m as guilty as everyone else. Until recently my walking outfit was basically BLACK. Now I have a blue jacket which definitely makes seeing me easier but then, I’m on the sidewalk and I’m extremely careful when it becomes necessary to cross over to the other side of the street and I mean extremely careful. I don’t think anyone goes the speed limit anymore – everyone is in a hurry and we all know Norwood cops don’t come on duty until 4 p.m.!
Whatever happened to bright clothes so drivers could see us? Did they stop making them or did we just say; “no way am I gonna wear something that bright and besides, it makes me look forty pounds heavier than I truly am, ye gads!” Ya, that is probably the reason, the way we look – to hell with how we’ll look as we get hit, fly thru the air and smash in to the ground – that doesn’t count!
Let me make myself very clear, I am not always sure it’s the driver fault but I also think drivers need to return to defensive driving habits. We have all gotten pretty damn casual about our so called driving skills. We speed, we fiddle with radio knobs, we violate the law by using our cell phone and many times we tailgate like total fools. So we aren’t totally blameless with accidents happen.
However pedestrians are not totally innocent either. Somewhere in the back of our heads we were told “pedestrians always have the right of way,” and we challenge that passage and learn that while this might be true, it can and is damn dangerous. Why in hell would you deliberately step into a crosswalk and slowly crawl across a street when you see lots of cars traversing this road? Or better yet, waiting until the car is almost to you before you step out and want them to stop so you can cross!
A little common courtesy and thinking on both sides would prevent some of these accidents and sad as it is that they happen, it is a fact of life that we are not paying attention and we need to get back to the basics.
Thar, I have said my peace and now I am headed to Syracuse this weekend and will challenge my basics on those city streets! Lemme tell ya, I ain’t stepping out on any of those streets unless all traffic stops and walking is absolutely safe – I may be dumb but I ain’t totally stupid!
You all have a great weekend, behave yourselves and oh hell, just have fun, okay?
2 comments:
I have a comment about the cross-walks in Canton. I have to drive down Main St. all of the time and it is not fun! There is only one intersection with the walk lights you tell about, and you could not pay me enough to walk across there(Park, Court, Main). There are no traffic lights at most of the itersections, to begin with, but that didn't stop the powers that be from painting cross-walks on the road. Furthermore, Canton is the only place I have ever been where people step out in front of moving vehicles when there is no way possible for the driver to see them. You are plenty busy enough watching 4 lanes of traffic with people trying to get on and off side streets without traffic lights to help them. Also, we teach very young children how to look both ways when crossing the street and I was taught to never step in front of a moving car for ANY reason.
Anonymous -- I hear you and know what you mean. We need to do something before more folks are run over and hurt.
We all have this weird sense of rush and thinking nothing can happen to us ...well, it does and it's time to stop,think and do something about it. We got folks elected to do things for us, how about we give them something real to work on?
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