Bring Back "Stop Look and Listen"

Almost every day you can read online about a pedestrian somewhere being hit by a car.  Today's offering is an eight year old boy.  The police are not releasing information yet, the driver was neither arrested nor ticketed so, I'm willing to bet that the boy didn't stop, look and listen.

The "pedestrian has the right of way" law is costing lives as more and more people are being stupefied into blindly walking into moving traffic.  I was walking with a friend and as we approached the curb she neither stopped nor looked.  She just stepped off of the curb and I grabbed her as cars from both directions were giving no indication of stopping.

If you watch people coming out of grocery stores or places such as WalMart, most of those people are not looking either.  They just walk out with blind faith that the world will stop for them.  The law does force drivers to be more cognizant of pedestrians since all the blame will be on the driver and their insurance company but it is also making pedestrians oblivious to the danger of 4,000 pounds of steel coming at them at thirty or fifty miles per hour.  Regardless of the law, my money is on the 4,000 pounds of steel.

Just because the pedestrian has the right of way does not mean that the driver is not eating fast food, putting on makeup, on the phone, fiddling with the radio, setting the GPS or nodding off.  We can make laws against those (Schumer, get on it) or we can give pedestrians a foolproof way to not get hit by cars: Stop, Look and Listen.  It works every time.  Go to your local highway and try it. 

Maybe we should take all the politicians who voted for that law to a busy highway and see which method they choose to cross the street.  Our eight year old little boy didn't get that choice because he somehow learned that cars will always stop for him.  Always.

When I was a kid there was a deluge of commercials on TV on the topic of Stop, Look and Listen.  Yielding to a car will keep you alive 100% of the time.  Stepping in front of one, not so much.  I think I'd rather be alive than to brainwashed into thinking I have super human powers to stop traffic.

Maybe if politicians created harsher punishments for drivers who hit human lemmings -  yes, that will save lives -  But, really, we don't need more laws, we need one less law.  Rescind the pedestrian right of way law.   If we have to keep it so we can place the blame, at least couple it with the admonishment to stop, look and listen, too.

Why the Pedestrian Right of Way Law is Dangerous

On January 19, at nine p.m., four girls were crossing a busy four lane intersection in the city of Troy, NY.  They were between the ages of ten and thirteen.   Since state law and parents teach their children that they have the right of way, children often exercise their right to step into of traffic and expect it to stop.  It's the law. 

In this case, the traffic light turned green, the crossing sign blinked "Don't Walk," and still, the girls stepped into the crosswalk.  There were three cars in the right lane and the first driver who had the green light stopped for the girls to cross the street, again, despite the crossing sign blinking "Don't Walk." 

The third car in line saw that the light was green and his lane wasn't moving so he turned into the left lane and continued.  Just as he approached the crosswalk the first girl emerged from in front of the stopped car and the she was hit.  She is fine, a little banged up, but not seriously injured.  The driver was ticketed for failing to yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk.

I was raised in an age where we were taught to stop, look and listen, then look again and continue to look both ways while crossing.  I don't quite understand the logic of a slow moving flesh and blood pedestrian having the right of way over two tons of steel and velocity.  Even today I have no desire to take up the practice of challenging a 4,000 pound vehicle against my unprotected body.   Even if a driver of a vehicle slows down, I wave them by because that driver may recognize my authority over him but that doesn't guarantee other drivers, as in this case, are cognizant of my ability to part a sea of vehicles in my path. 

When I was a teen on a bike, I witnessed a pedestrian stepping onto a street forcing a car to come to a stop.  As she approached the other lane, a car across the street was pulling out of a side street and he was looking to his left for oncoming traffic.  There was none coming and no need to look to the right since it was his lane he was turning onto.  As he pulled onto the street and looked to the right, it was too late.  Compound leg fractures ensued.   The car was fine. 

I walk at about 2.5 miles per hour and a car can be going about 30 miles per hour on the average city street (c'mon, who are we kidding - 40).   At my pace I can stop in about a foot.  A car may take several feet to stop.  If someone steps in front of a car, several feet may not be enough.  The law may be on the side of the pedestrian but the laws of physics is not. 

Residents of the community are very upset about this recent hit and are demanding that the city do something to make this busy vehicular intersection more safe, at taxpayer expense.  Good parenting is free.

No pedestrian should suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk in the path of a moving vehicle which constitutes an immediate hazard.  You may disagree but I think that that is just insane regardless what the law says. So parents, decide what you teach your children:  Stop, look and listen or, stop traffic.   BTW, where is your ten year old at nine p.m.?