Staying alive in a crosswalk

I have been involved in accident investigation for over 30 years. When investigating crosswalk accidents, I had to work with experts in accident reconstruction. They would reconstruct questionable liability cases involving serious injury or death which occurred in crosswalks.

I routinely “picked these experts brains” to find out how a person could stay alive while crossing in a crosswalk. I learned that pedestrians crossing in crosswalks often are struck for various reasons:

• Drivers traveling in the early morning and early evening may not see the pedestrian because the sun is in their eyes.

• Cars parked near the crosswalk may block the view of the pedestrian, especially if he/she is a small child.

• Drivers may be distracted by using their cell phones for talking hands free or texting.

• Drivers may be under the influence of marijuana, alcohol or prescription drugs-even in the day time.

• Drivers may be speeding and cannot avoid a pedestrian even if they see him/her.

• Pedestrians may not be paying attention to oncoming vehicles because they are using their cell phones, or talking to a friend, who is crossing with them. Neither may be paying attention to the approaching hazard.

• A pedestrian may think they have an “arbitrary right” to be in the cross walk and that all vehicles have to yield to them… just because they are in the crosswalk. There is an old adage “They may be Dead Right.”

• Pedestrians may think a car is slowing for them, when in fact, the driver is slowing for another reason. The driver may never see the pedestrian in the crosswalk.

So, If all pedestrians just follow one simple rule, there should never be a pedestrian struck in a crosswalk. Here is the rule I learned to cover with all of my family and friends: Never step in front of a moving car.

In other words, look both ways and do not step out into the crosswalk until you make sure all cars are stopped.

Thank you for considering this simple rule to save lives in crosswalks. cross safely.

STAN SOGSTI Lodi

Thanks for supporting local Boy Scouts

Editor: On behalf of Scouting in North County and our annual Christmas Tree Pick Up (CTPU) event in Lodi and Woodbridge, we would like to thank the community for supporting Scouting with their generous donations. This event has been a part of Lodi for over a half of a century.

We also thank Waste Management for providing facilities and services to compost the trees, Lodi Sunrise Rotary Club for providing lunch for the Scouts, and Tiger Lines for providing a semi-trailer to move the trees.

Donations collected for this event are used by Scouting groups for annual activities such as; weekend camping trips, summer camp, Eagle Scout service projects and programs that develop future leaders in our community.

We apologize to those who had trouble making a donation through PayPal. We experienced some technical difficulties and hope to have it resolved shortly. Those wishing to donate to Scouting can do so by mailing a check to Crew 1225, P.O. Box 504, Woodbridge, CA 95258.

It has come to our attention that others in the community were picking up trees prior to the advertised date of Jan. 4. Anyone collecting trees prior to the 4th were not associated with local Scouting CTPU event.

Again, thank you Lodi and Woodbridge for 50-plus years of continuing support.

ROBERT WATANABE

Lodi