Few good ideas for nervous pedestrians at crosswalks
Today’s question:
A major hazard to citizens out on their morning constitutionals is the driver who rushes up onto and blocks the walking/jogging/cycling path or crosswalk and waits to make a turn onto the adjacent thoroughfare without consideration for pedestrians, who are legally going in both directions.
Tinted windshields make it almost impossible for the walker/jogger/cycler to see whether the driver acknowledges him or her and it is not always possible to go around.
What can be done about this?
I wish I had a good answer to this one, especially since I know the guy who sent it in and he had kindly and patiently helped me with questions in the past.
I suppose pedestrians who have a regular problem with this could carry baseball bats and soundly whack the hoods of offending cars, but I don’t see that plan ending well for anyone involved. Given the number of armed crazies out and about these days even a slap on the hood with the flat of your hand probably wouldn’t be a good idea.
You could tap on the driver’s window and politely ask them to be more careful in the future. Let me know how that one works out for you.
I read about a town in Iceland — Ísafjörður, to be precise — that hired a painting contract to paint a design that created the optical illusion of a 3-D crosswalk that appeared to float about the street itself.
That was clever, although like using plastic owls to scare of pigeons, I don’t know who long it deterred real offenders.
Sorry, that’s all I’ve got. I am, however, always open to ideas.
If any of you pedestrians are regularly plagued by the same problem of such rude drivers and have any reasonable suggestions for dealing with the problem let me know.