Awareness of those around you paramount

Yield to fellow travelers and pay attention when crossing streets to all possible traffic

Green chile, Sandias, balloons ... bike and pedestrian memorials; this is what comes to mind when I think of Albuquerque. My name is John, I am 33 years old and lived here half my life. Up until about two years ago, I walked anywhere and everywhere I had to go within a reasonable distance of my Northeast home. I have a mild case of cerebral palsy and, though very capable of driving, found it more responsible not to drive, as I would hate to risk having one of my rare stress-induced seizures and hurt someone, let alone myself.

... With my wife behind the wheel with our precious twins in the back, we are mortified how many times drivers have cut us off, endangering our lives as well as the lives of others — how many drivers who have almost hit me cutting the corner on a red light or how many bikers have sped past me on the sidewalk. And on Sept. 23, 2014, a bicyclist actually did.

When walking down the sidewalk with my cane, a motorized bicyclist came right for me. Not knowing exactly what he was going to do, would he stop or go around me?

He did not yield, but rather plowed right into me, lunging me forward. Though an officer reprimanded him, the deed was already done.

Though I am more or less over it, I still live with the long effects of a severe concussion and whiplash: a year of not being able to do the simplest things I once enjoyed like reading a book, writing, or even watching a movie. I still have trouble focusing, I can’t recall things as well (and) find myself a different person than I was before I was hit.

I look around this city and observe drivers who can’t wait for pedestrians, bikers who think they own the road and the sidewalk, pedestrians who think they can cross anywhere whether they have a walk signal or not, skateboarders who are so engrossed in their iTunes they’re oblivious to the honking car behind them as they continue down the street. With all the people cutting lanes, crossing in the middle of busy streets, cutting corners on red, cutting pedestrians off, it’s no wonder the medians are chock-filled with memorials.

I reckon I was raised to respect people and taught to be aware of my surroundings. I don’t know if it’s ignorance or just blatant rudeness, but seems to me we have rules for a reason and would be better off following them. Some rules are ridiculous, I admit, but sidewalks, signal lights, bike lanes, road lines and the like were designed to keep people safe in their rightful place. And, if one finds themselves in the unfortunate circumstance where they happen to be in the other person’s specific trail, if anything it is that person’s moral obligation to yield to those passers-by.

I understand we all have places to go, but if we’re absorbed in our own little world and force others to yield to us, what’s the point in that? We just turn the folks around us into our enemies. So, I implore you, my fellow Albuquerqueans: When you turn right on a light, check for pedestrians; when walking, walk on the sidewalk, not the bike lane; when forced to bike on the sidewalk, yield to those walking; be courteous and cross in the crosswalk with the other walking man, not during the red hand; don’t follow that car in the turn lane when you know it’s a red arrow.

Consideration is a two-way street. It only takes a second to save a life — or ruin one forever.