Watching out for Pedestrians

Manuel Martinez IV January 11, 2013 at 02:19 pm

Juan, thank goodness that you were aware and moving slowly.
There are many measures that pedestrians and cyclists can take to enhance their safety - including my few suggestions: - wear reflective, bright, or light-colored clothing - make eye contact with motorists before crossing streets - use designated pedestrian crossing lanes - follow the direction of pedestrian signals at intersections - keep eyes on the road when crossing major intersections; put phones away - when waiting for the light to turn at a major intersection, stand behind the light pole, instead of on the corner's edge - never wait at the center divide to cross a street In any case, pedestrians and cyclists must remember that traffic laws might give them the right-of-way in certain situations, but those same traffic laws will not necessarily save their lives when broken by motorists behind the wheel of a one or two-ton vehicle.

Claudia Cruz (Editor) January 12, 2013 at 07:17 am

I agree Mannie! Thanks! Some pedestrians, I find, just walk into the middle of the street (or a crosswalk), without regard for incoming traffic. As a former New Yorker who grew up jaywalking, we would never do this. As such, when I travel to different cities and find myself walking, I don't assume that drivers will stop. I still bring my NY smarts. I don't advocate jaywalking, but if you are going to do it—be smart about it.

Leane February 8, 2013 at 02:35 am

There are also a lot of distracted walkers out there. I can't tell you how many times I've seen people texting or reading an eReader while they walk and almost run into a pole. Yesterday, my husband was driving through our neighborhood and there was a woman crossing the street on a long diagonal and chatting away on her cell phone. He stopped because he could see she wasn't paying attention to what was going on around her. She walked right into his car and preceded to raise her arms and say, "What are you doing?!" He just replied, "Ma'am, I was stopped. You ran into me." I can only imagine if it was someone hurrying through the neighborhood to get to Middlefield...that could have been a very different outcome.

Claudia Cruz (Editor) February 8, 2013 at 08:25 am

This is incredible. He was stopped and she ran into his car? I always put my cellphone down when I'm crossing the street. I almost got hit once crossing a very busy street in NYC and I've been very careful since.