Stop jaywalking, woman pleads!
Today's story on jaywalking (it's a subject that's been bothering me for quite some time) brought this response from a reader Patti Jakusz:
Since moving here from Milwaukee in '92, I have been ranting about jaywalkers, sometimes to the point of apoplexy. I worked downtown for 13 yrs and every day I saw people walk out into the street before ever looking up to see if a car was approaching (god forbid they would ever look at the traffic sign.) Even if they do stop, they stay in the street, preventing cars from moving into the turn lane. If you honk at them, they get defiant. I've even seen one pair get violent and kick the car that honked at them. Thank you for bringing this to light. Some people don't even realize they're breaking the law. I really hope the police do start handing out tickets.
I noted that in many cases, bad drivers force people to jaywalk by blocking intersection or make it dangerous for pedestrians by failing to yield while making right-hand turns. But just today on my drive back from Towson, a woman walked in front of my car, forcing me to stop on York Road, and made me miss my light.
She looked at me like I had done something wrong. I had to stop at the red light, but apparently she couldn't have waited another 30 seconds to cross the street legally. I don't want to encourage cops to ticket everybody, but we need to work together so we can all get where we're going safely and on time.
Comments
all i can say is amen. one thing that stood out when i first moved to baltimore, is how baltimoreans seem to have little awareness of the vehicles around them. i would be independently wealthy by now if i had a dime for every baltimorean i've seen step out into traffic without even pretending to look.
i, too, am a jaywalker, but a "responsible" one -- i only step out when traffic is clear. because i *look.*
apparently, i too, have been driven to rants about baltimore jaywalking. :)
Posted by: maryann | July 15, 2009 2:11 PM
I thought I was the only one, I do not enjoy driving at night because they dart out in the streets, wear dark clothing, it is too much distractions, I return to Baltimore in 2007 and it has gotten worse, maybe a training marketing promotions or something!!
Posted by: rara | July 15, 2009 3:55 PM
In downtown Baltimore it has gone beyond jaywalking. People wade their way out in to the middle of a busy street and attempt to play chicken with traffic by staring the cars down. That only works if the driver actually sees you. I'm very surprised more people haven't been killed.
Posted by: cjohn | July 16, 2009 9:54 AM