Crosswalks 101
I do not drive. I don't, in fact, have a driver's license. Even if I did, I don't have a car during the day, since the husband is a courier and kind of can't work without the vehicle. As a result, I walk everywhere. Always have, actually. And so it didn't seem like much of a stretch when the kids started going to school that I'd walk them there. Every day we walk, through ridiculous weather, and I'm pleased to report we aren't the only ones walking to school. Despite reports, not every kid these days gets driven by their parents.
It'd help a lot, though, if drivers weren't getting in the way. Look, I understand, you're bigger and more powerful than I am and the road is your territory. I get it. But, uh, the crosswalks are there for me and my children to walk on. Those painted lines on the road? They're not intended as a suggestion for you to ignore. That thick white line before the intersection is called a stop line for a reason. It's where you're supposed to stop. You're not supposed to drive across it and then drive across the crosswalk, stopping your car so it thoroughly blocks the way of any pedestrians. See, the point of a crosswalk is so that people who need to cross have a place to walk. Funny how they named things things, isn't it? When you stop your car in the middle of the crosswalk, I have to take my children around you, into the way of oncoming traffic. Now the safety value in that pretty much defeats any purpose of having a crosswalk at all, don't you think?
And to the lady from this morning who glared at me as I tried to navigate my stroller around her car while she blocked the crosswalk: I wish up on you a curse of flat tires and terrible luck finding parking spots.
It'd help a lot, though, if drivers weren't getting in the way. Look, I understand, you're bigger and more powerful than I am and the road is your territory. I get it. But, uh, the crosswalks are there for me and my children to walk on. Those painted lines on the road? They're not intended as a suggestion for you to ignore. That thick white line before the intersection is called a stop line for a reason. It's where you're supposed to stop. You're not supposed to drive across it and then drive across the crosswalk, stopping your car so it thoroughly blocks the way of any pedestrians. See, the point of a crosswalk is so that people who need to cross have a place to walk. Funny how they named things things, isn't it? When you stop your car in the middle of the crosswalk, I have to take my children around you, into the way of oncoming traffic. Now the safety value in that pretty much defeats any purpose of having a crosswalk at all, don't you think?
And to the lady from this morning who glared at me as I tried to navigate my stroller around her car while she blocked the crosswalk: I wish up on you a curse of flat tires and terrible luck finding parking spots.