First off, let me just say I am a pedestrian. My apartment is not easily metro accessible, so I choose to walk 40 minutes to work every day. In those 40 minutes I go through two traffic circles and numerous major intersections. I also see at least one near pedestrian-bicyclist-driver accident PER DAY, which, in almost all cases could have been avoided. Normally I would chalk this up to my particularly busy commuter route. However, today I saw THIS. Jesus. We have a problem.
Artistic rendering of K Street traffic
I support recent efforts by the police to ticket jaywalking pedestrians at major intersections, such as 14th and U street. Nobody is in such a hurry that they have to jaywalk, or too tired to walk to an actual intersection. As an equal opportunity employer, I am also in favor of police ticketing cars that don’t yield to pedestrians as well as bicyclists that seem to ignore traffic rules altogether. All I ask is that these laws are enforced fairly. We don’t need another racket.
However, in addition to throwing my support behind ticketing, I wanted to give 5 tips to help my fellow ipod-wearing, croissant-snacking, oblivious pedestrians of the world avoid injury, or worse. They are as follows…
- After one traffic circle too many, Jimmy just snapped
- Make eye contact with drivers on the street. The simplest of rules, but so few do it. Drivers may not see you when they pull out of a driveway or turn, so don’t just walk out. Even if you have the right of way, make sure your presence is personally acknowledged.
- Recognize the limitations of headphones. Pedestrians: cutting off your sense of sound severly limits your perception. Even though you can see the world, you are very handicapped in reacting to it. Going into a coma because you got too into the chorus of “Don’t Stop Believin” would be exceptionally sad. On multiple levels.
- If the red hand is solid, there is a reason for it. The scene plays out like this: the hand is solid red but pedestrians see no cars. They then observe that the hand is red for the other direction too and start getting confused. One idiot just starts crossing and everyone lemmings. Then about halfway across, they see a car zooming to try to make the left hand turn arrow, which it now cannot make because it is thwarted by the walking zombie herd. Driver dies a bit inside.
- Do not jump the gun on the traffic signal. Just don’t. It’s a negligible amount of time to wait and so many cars get trapped in the intersection because pedestrians walk on yellow (14th and K?) . Let’s be honest, your morning routine of reading your email, sighing and getting up to get a cup of coffee can wait one second to prevent chaos.
- Resist the traffic circle temptation. In a traffic circle pedestrians are confronted with short distances to cross, long wait times, and no assurances that cars will even take their circle exit. Many combat this by “guessing” which exit cars are going to take and racing across. Never works. I would say 50% of near collisions I see happen this way. Just be PATIENT.
So pedestrians, I adore you, but be cautious. We have a lot more to lose in this game than the car, and need to get our act together accordingly.
ispythingsdc@gmail.com
Agreed on all counts. However, I want to make a special appeal to bikers: OBEY TRAFFIC LAWS. I can’t count the number of times I’ve almost been hit by bikers – much more frequent than the near-death experiences with cars. And given how much bikers complain that they’re at risk with cars, you’d think they’d be more respectful of those of us walking.
agreed completely. Oh and sidebar, when I said “the driver dies a bit inside.” I meant this figuratively, not literally. I am not THAT morbid people.
Statistics here may be of interest, though the most recent we were able to obtain from DDOT are 2008.
Great stuff indeed. Especially now that Cops are cracking down on jaywalking. Loving the Frogger pic!
you’re kind of pathetic sir. just a little bit. or maybe not. fuck your left turn you cocky piece of shit, its 101 out and your last second screeching through the streets entitles you a visit to a far hotter hell than the one i suffer just standing outside, word nothing to the fact that you’re a poor excuse for a human being that gets upset at someone for not anticipating you playing out a scene from Speed at rush hour on DC streets. you appear to live in a parallel reality, a twisted, dark DC where peds roam free on the streets, causing mayhem, moving at random and causing problems for the sparse few vehicles on the road, and thats clearly a different DC from the one i’ve seen. on the contrary, i adore the presence and attention of DC peds, looking for clean opportunities to save everyone a little time, and will frequently stop and golfclap a good sporting attempt.
if a ped’s being a douche, he gets honked at, prompting a panicked re-appraisal of the situation. i do not see this happen often. for one it’s a fairly self-correcting pattern, people change their behavior away from this; i have yet to see anyone jaded enough to blatantly disregard traffics right of way. for two, the peds i see are street smart, and dont seem to walk blatantly into traffic with quite the frequency your post implies.
your first two calls are valid. a ped engaging in creative walking needs to be alert and to communicate their intentions clearly. but thats all. if that ped is practicing due diligence to not block up traffic, then fuck you if you dont like it, you air conditioned cunt in a car, so pathologically fucked in the head your blood pressure raises because you didnt make the light. thats a disease, preferably fatal before breeding, but none-the-less, seek help, chill out, smoke a bowl, get a life, whatever it takes; be content that some mishapped ped will escape the tortuous weather, and get over yourself (you self absorbed prick).
i’m all for making sure cars have right of way when traffic patterns are in their favor. but your claims that peds shouldnt bend the rules is callous, self obsessed, and nauseating to anyone with even the smallest iota of perspective. its 101 out, muggy as hell, and a ped with a decent sense of timing and a respect for right of way is morally at liberty to do what-so-ever.
another reason peds should be extra cautious; if you DO get hit, MPD will show NO mercy!!! http://www.tbd.com/blogs/tbd-on-foot/2010/08/rollerblader-gets-hit-by-van-wakes-up-in-hospital-with-jaywalking-ticket-51.html (although, interestingly, this article seems to neglect to mention the high fines/points that drivers incur for incidents involving pedestrians, regardless of who is at fault)