Crosswalk Lunacy

How crazy is this? I received a copy of the City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation’s response to a request for installation of a marked crosswalk across Eagle Rock Boulevard and Fair Park Avenue. I suspect that the person making the request for the installation of the marked cross walk might well have children that cross at that intersection on their way to school which probably automatically gives that person a vested personal interest which should therefore be dismissed since it, in the eyes of some, make it impossible to be objective. Now before I continue in what is likely to be perceived as a sarcastic and critical vein, something for which I have been criticized more than once by some readers lacking a sense of humor and having an overabundance of self-importance and poor judgment, let me just say that (pardon the stereotype) some of my best friends are City employees, past and present. And I believe that the vast majority of City employees work very hard at doing incredibly difficult jobs with ridiculously limited resources. And I suspect that the tone of this response is due in part to those limited resources, but folks, we are sending the wrong message here!

The report states that “There were a total of 13 pedestrian units crossing Eagle Rock Boulevard at Fair Park Avenue from 2:10 p.m. to 3:10 p.m. and 20 pedestrian units crossing from 7:40 a.m. to 8:40 p.m.” Well, at least they weren’t referred to as “carbon life forms” or “bi-peds” but “pedestrian units” is certainly dehumanizing enough! The report goes on to state, “Traffic safety studies have produced evidence with suggests that pedestrians are more cautious when crossing at locations where crosswalks have not been painted. Caution on the part of the pedestrian is more effective in reducing accidents, than painted lines which offer no real protection against an oncoming vehicle.” Well, that certainly is comforting! There seems to be a real “survival of the fittest” who are “constantly vigilant” mentality going on here. Are we being told we should foster a dangerous environment so that no one is complacent or secure and therefore will be always on their guard?. Another way of phrasing this would be “Since the drivers on our public streets are too dumb or too selfish to not run over pedestrians in cross walks, we’ll make things safer by having no cross walks.”

What happened to the American sense of fair play? I’m 6'2 and 220 pounds and I know that I don’t stand a chance against a Mini-Cooper, much less a 10 ton dump truck when it comes to an argument over who has the right of way at an intersection, whether it is marked with a crosswalk or not. The vehicle, large or small, is going to win over the pedestrian, large or small, every time. The pedestrian can be dead right and right dead at the same time. It's time to stick up for the underdog! How about painting a cross walk, putting in flashing lights like are used in nearby Glendale, and then sending in a few of LAPD’s finest to make sure that motorists get the lesson that, as the report says, “...motorists must yield the right-of-way to pedestrians property crossing the street at an intersection, whether or not a marked crosswalk is present”? Let’s revisit the crosswalk issue and concern ourselves more with saving human lives than having “cautious pedestrian units”.

And, lest you worry that I think the pedestrian unit is always right, in the next week or two I plan to spend a little column space pondering why people walk or jog down the middle of busy streets when there is a perfectly good sidewalk on either side of them. Perhaps those are the “pedestrian units” that don’t have sense enough to get out of the street.