My missus has told me I should be more empathetic. Well, I am empathetic towards lost kittens. Toward tweakers and voluntarily chronic homeless, not so much.
Has anybody else noticed the following. Sketchy looking pedestrians pushing crosswalk buttons both directions, then walking off down the street.
Or crossing in the middle of the block, in a way that intentionally holds up traffic. Then they stop in the middle of the road and yell at motorists.
Or worse. Like pushing off from the far side of a crosswalk late in the light cycle, so as to be slowly walking across in a way that holds up traffic that has the green light. I had this happen about a week ago. The would-be pedestrian got a very late start into the crosswalk. He or she (I really couldn't tell) was taking baby steps. When they got to the median, their steps got shorter and shorter. I was in the no. 3 lane, so would be held up longest. The closer they came to the opposite curb, the shorter their steps. When they got in front of my car, they looked me right in the eye and went slower. There is no doubt in my mind that it was intentional.
On one of our major highways around here, they recently lowered the speed limit because too many pedestrians were being hit. But my observation has been, those people crossing dangerously tend to appear to be of the vagrant / tweaker type. So the authorities aren't doing this because of excessive speed by motorists, necessarily, but more due to careless or dangerous pedestrian crossing.
Here's the reality. People driving cars tend to be the ones paying the bills. Those afoot tend to not be the ones paying the bills. In general; of course as there are Yuppie types who take the bus because they are saving the world or whatever. Or saving $40 a day on parking downtown, for those who are still doing it. But up where I live not all that many people walk or use public trans. to get to work. Deadbeats and vagrants might harbor animosity toward motorists. Haves and have nots. One more rant going nowhere but things like this drive me nuts. It's all part of the increasing lawlessness across the land. Vagrancy, explosion of graffiti, street crime, drug use in public, etc. Mothers on my childhood street used the phrase, "Give 'em an inch and they'll take a mile." I think by now "they've" been given a mile and are taking much more.
Has anybody else noticed the following. Sketchy looking pedestrians pushing crosswalk buttons both directions, then walking off down the street.
Or crossing in the middle of the block, in a way that intentionally holds up traffic. Then they stop in the middle of the road and yell at motorists.
Or worse. Like pushing off from the far side of a crosswalk late in the light cycle, so as to be slowly walking across in a way that holds up traffic that has the green light. I had this happen about a week ago. The would-be pedestrian got a very late start into the crosswalk. He or she (I really couldn't tell) was taking baby steps. When they got to the median, their steps got shorter and shorter. I was in the no. 3 lane, so would be held up longest. The closer they came to the opposite curb, the shorter their steps. When they got in front of my car, they looked me right in the eye and went slower. There is no doubt in my mind that it was intentional.
On one of our major highways around here, they recently lowered the speed limit because too many pedestrians were being hit. But my observation has been, those people crossing dangerously tend to appear to be of the vagrant / tweaker type. So the authorities aren't doing this because of excessive speed by motorists, necessarily, but more due to careless or dangerous pedestrian crossing.
Here's the reality. People driving cars tend to be the ones paying the bills. Those afoot tend to not be the ones paying the bills. In general; of course as there are Yuppie types who take the bus because they are saving the world or whatever. Or saving $40 a day on parking downtown, for those who are still doing it. But up where I live not all that many people walk or use public trans. to get to work. Deadbeats and vagrants might harbor animosity toward motorists. Haves and have nots. One more rant going nowhere but things like this drive me nuts. It's all part of the increasing lawlessness across the land. Vagrancy, explosion of graffiti, street crime, drug use in public, etc. Mothers on my childhood street used the phrase, "Give 'em an inch and they'll take a mile." I think by now "they've" been given a mile and are taking much more.
