two hundred sixty five

WHY DID THE CAR MAKE ME CROSS THE ROAD?

I have been crossing streets since I was a small child. "Look both ways before you cross the street" was drilled into us. Cars and trucks behaved in a predictable way. We understood they are much larger than us so we accepted that fact and reacted accordingly. 

Crosswalks do give the pedestrian the right of way, the cars and trucks are to yield to pedestrians IN the crosswalk. Not yielding to a pedestrian IN the cross walk can end in receiving a citation, but this is rarely enforced.

I have been walking everyday to get my knee in shape. I live in a residential area so most of my route is on sidewalks. There are a few busier streets and a couple have specific pedestrian crossing lights. 

The small side streets are where I notice this the most. Traffic will stop to let me cross the street even if I don't want to. I try to look like I am in no hurry and I am not wanting to cross the street. I do this with my eyes and with my body language, but they stop anyway. 

I can be up to 15 feet from a crosswalk when they see me and instead of just driving they stop in the middle of the street, sometimes blocking traffic. If I wave them by they glare at me. If I do want to cross I would rather wait until they pass so I don't have to hurry. At least give me a chance to be at the crosswalk and look both ways.

I noticed they stop for people illegally jaywalking. Jaywalking is the art of timing traffic so you can cross through the spaces between cars. This requires the cars maintain their speed but as soon as you step out somebody stops and screws up the whole plan. I'm a damn jaywalker I don't deserve your damn politeness. If I see a jaywalker I figure it is illegal so he is on his own and I assume they have a plan I don't want to screw it up.

I first saw this while living in San Francisco and wrote it off to some new woke cult of pacifist driving. I walked everywhere in SF and learned to not look at the crosswalk until you were there or cars would stop while you are ten feet away from the crosswalk. 

I did have a confrontation with a jogger while driving in Noe Valley. He came from behind a building at full stride as I entered the crosswalk, he then kicked the side of my SF friendly beater GEO Metro. We exchanged pleasantries and commented on each others levels of intelligence. I smiled and politely offered to kick his ass as I exited my car. This is a tradition not seen often in San Francisco. For some reason he lost interest and chose to continue his run. My x-ray vision must have been on the blink that day.

SF is a congested city with scooters, cars, trucks, cabs, trollies, public busses, pedestrians and very obnoxious idiot cyclists. This blend of chaos is amazing to navigate. There is a ying and yang or give and take that works, in a way in all of that chaos I understand the pedestrian phobia.

I now live in a small town in central Oregon, the people here are polite to a fault. My DMV experience was delightful, they all smiled, helped me find the proper forms, directed me to the shortest line, then promptly finished the transaction and thanked me, yes thanked me. I felt bad there wasn't a tip box because that is how well I was treated. This has happened every time I have been there.

This may explain some of the overly polite driving. There is also an aggressive element, they are usually in large mud covered pick up trucks or in expensive German touring cars.

The reason for this post is my worry about this change. I ride on the edge of the road sometimes far from bike lanes. How people react to me is important. I actually hope they don't over react. This over reaction has put me in danger many times. 

On one of my trips through Vermont there was an accident behind me because the driver instead of passing me stopped and followed me up the hill. I was climbing a grade so I was going slow. Every other car drove past, a few slowed, a few went extra wide but this one stopped and followed.

The cars piled up behind me but I could not turn off because of a deep ditch. A truck back in the line started to pass and naturally a car came over the crest of the hill. Things got interesting and fenders got bent but somehow we avoided a total disaster.

I don't trust cars, period. However I do rely on a little judgment and skill. My philosophy is do what you are going to do and I will work around you, just stay in your lane. Over reacting to my presence can put me in danger. Don't let me in, don't wave me by and don't follow me up a hill.

I learned to ride a bicycle in traffic in the Phoenix area. Phoenix is not a bike friendly or bike tolerant city. They crowd you, block you, blow the horn at you and throw stuff at you. Yes they throw stuff at you like Big Gulps and whiskey bottles. I learned to ride close to traffic, draft trucks and use cars for picks. 

Heavy traffic riding takes timing and skill, a driver stopping in traffic to give me the right of way is a nightmare. The traffic behind usually isn't aware or in agreement with showing me the same courtesy. I have a plan as to how I am going to navigate any situation so this always screws up the flow. 

I don't worry about big trucks, the driver is usually a working professional so I assume they have some level of driving skill. Cars and pickups are a mixed bag but the scariest vehicles are motorhomes. These are piloted by and unskilled senior driver, they are 30 or more feet long with a car dragging behind, what could possibly go wrong? Now if we add to this a new overly cautious driving style it doesn't help.

I hope this new driving style hasn't spread across the country. I don't understand it and I won't do it. I have received the evil eye and a middle finger a few times as someone lifts their eyes from their phone and expects me to stop on a dime. They don't realize there is traffic around me and I don't stop because it might cause a four car pile up on a dark snow covered street. 

As a pedestrian, cyclist and a driver I take in the whole picture. I don't want to slow or change the traffic flow I'm content waiting for an opening. The reality is cars have fenders I do not.

My rant is simple, 

JUST DRIVE I WILL WORK AROUND YOU!