Raise the Hammer

Well said.

This morning on my commute, I saw an elderly man cross Garth to get to a bus stop. The closest traffic light was a few hundred meters in either direction, so he crossed at a side street. He waited for a break in traffic and started crossing. But he walked very slowly with his cane and did not make it across before the next 'wave' caught up. He looked scared and caught helpless standing in the middle of the street. I was cycling along and saw the whole thing. The car in front of me in the right lane stopped to let this this man cross and I was relieved (bless you for stopping). I stopped behind the car. We were happy to let this man cross safely.

In the left lane however, the cars veered into oncoming lanes in order to race around this old man, rather than yield and let him finish crossing. My heart lept into my throat because for a couple of seconds I thought I was going to witness this man get hit by a car, and I was already reading the license plate of the car that veered into oncoming lanes.

Now, keep in mind, there was plenty of time for traffic to stop safely, one car did, the other chose not to. Drivers are not aware of their responsibilities at unmarked intersections. This was a bit of an odd occurrence, this man would probably have been nailed for 'jaywalking', and my heart broke at this sick urban design we have going here.

I'm afraid to post this comment because I know what kind of responses are coming blasting anyone who would dare inconvenience the motoring public in order to cross the street and catch a bus. Again this was kind of an odd occurrence where an elderly man was not fast enough, and it would have been painful for him to add a few hundred meters to his slow walk in order to cross at a light, but in a polite society it is no big deal to slow or stop and allow a fellow countryman to cross safely to reach a bus stop.

Zebra crossings are awesome but the culture here has a lot of maturing to do still before we can have nice things again. Zoom zoom!!

Comment edited by mikeonthemountain on 2012-11-13 12:06:14