Why did the Old Coot cross
the street?
By Merlin Lessler
Here we go again. DOT is
inundating our village with a plethora of pedestrian crossing signals. Most
likely this is happening across the state and the country, since it is a
federal safety edict. It just proves how stupid they think we are. Too stupid
to know enough to look both ways before crossing a street! Something kids from
my day, and well beyond, learned to do before they were five. We did! We walked
to school, crossing several intersections on our way, starting in kindergarten.
And, we were far from child prodigies!
The nanny state we suffer
under, also urges us not to J-walk. “Always cross at the corner!” And now, more
and more, at a corner with a button to push and a control box loaded with
artificial intelligence, telling us when to cross. Often, with a robotic voice saying,
“Wait, Wait, Wait, “until the go signal comes on.
I find the whole thing
insulting, and dangerous! If you cross at a corner, press the “I’m too stupid
to know when to cross” button and think it’s safe to go when the light comes on.
You’re not; you are more likely to get run over than if you crossed in the
middle of the block and looked both ways; Jay-Walked! It’s that “right on red”
rule that will get you run down. Especially now, when many drivers forget the
“after stopping” part of the rule. The driver turning right on red is looking
to the left; as soon as it’s free of traffic, off he goes, right into a
pedestrian coming from the right. He never looks in that direction! The poor
pedestrian thinks it’s safe to cross, the traffic signal told him so.
We need to teach DRIVERS
to look both ways! Not just the pedestrians. Then it might be safe to cross at
the corner. In the meantime, middle of the block is safest. Right on red &
cell phones are a deadly combination for us poor pedestrians. The question
isn’t, “Why did the chicken cross the road?” It’s “How on earth did the chicken
make it to the other side?”
Comments? Complaints? Sent
to mlessler7@gmail.com
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