Dear Editor:
The common sense taught to me as a little girl has kept me safe from physical harm all my life. “Safety First” as the saying goes but these days it is more like “Safety Last” as in the silent film starring Harold Lloyd seen famously hanging from a clock’s hands high above the Los Angeles traffic.
Which brings me to our pedestrian problem. We have many pedestrians that must navigate our increasingly crowded roadways and sidewalks. With bikes, buses, scooters, cars, and deliveries on hand trucks buzzing all around, it is not hard to imagine accidents happening. On Saturday, September 23, I was in the vicinity of Washington and Observer Highway where at around 12 noon a pedestrian crossing the crosswalk was hit by an Academy bus. Now I did not see the accident but I did talk to various people that were there and I actually talked to the bus driver after the police had left. A woman who lives across the street said that cars sometimes run the light and that many pedestrians do not stop at the crosswalk to wait for the cars or buses which have the right of way to pass. The bus driver told me that was why he had to slam on his brakes before he even got to the crosswalk to make his turn. I do know that when I ride buses, many people just walk right in front of the bus because they do not want to wait for the large vehicle to pass and the bus driver has to slam on his breaks. I decided to wait at that intersection and watch the people at the crosswalk and lo and behold I saw people walking from both sides of Washington when the crosswalk sign said to stop!! The “Don’t Walk” sign was clearly visible in the background!!
Then on Tuesday, September 26, this paper reported that a woman pushing a baby carriage at the intersection of 4th and Washington was hit in the arm by a falling traffic light during the on-going construction on Washington Street. Now I personally would have avoided that area since my common sense tells me that I can control my actions but I certainly cannot control what might happen at a construction site with such serious movement of light poles so I would stay far away from harm’s way.
The world is a dangerous place every time you step outside your front door. We can only keep our wits about ourselves and avoid possible accidents at construction sites and be careful where vehicles have to pass at crosswalks. And those curb extensions that supposedly protect pedestrians? Well they only put pedestrians dangerously closer to the passing vehicles and provide no protection when waiting at the curb in the Washington Street parking lane. Plus I now see pedestrians waiting off the finished curb extensions in the traffic lane, just inches from the moving vehicles!! Give someone an inch they will take a foot.
I am sorry for these two women but pedestrians have to be vigilant to everything that is going around them.
Mary Ondrejka
