Ilkka is usually a pedestrian/public transit rider, so it’s quite a surprise when he looks at the world from the driver’s perspective:
It’s always good to see things from the other guy’s perspective, and today we went on errand to the city on a car, very different from my usual public transit and pedestrian viewpoint. I understand not just the complaints of drivers much better now, but also the notion of “high cost of free parking”. I thought it was absurd how the city of Toronto, by allowing curbside parking, effectively turns its perfectly good four-lane streets into narrow two-lane bottlenecks that massively throttle the traffic. And then all those freaking pedestrians crossing the streets wherever they feel like, something I basically never do. It actually wouldn’t be a bad idea to impose a law that not only is it never a crime to hit a pedestrian who is on the street anywhere else than the sidewalk or a crosswalk, but the city would actually pay a small reward for this service to society, bit like the “kill money” bounty that hunters traditionally get for putting down pests. The problem of pedestrians running around in the traffic would vanish within a week.
I think he’s kidding . . .
Forget pedestrians. It’s the cyclists that are the real menace.
Comment by Publius — April 17, 2011 @ 11:40
I have to agree: the pedestrians are merely irritating. It’s the cyclists who seem to specialize in endangering themselves. I don’t mind sharing the road with cyclists, but cyclists often convert themselves at the change of a traffic light into pseudo-pedestrians, no longer needing to pay heed to traffic laws. I had one the other day decide that he’d switch modes, and turned left sort-of into the pedestrian crossing, but well before it. I was in the right lane. I was able to hit the brakes in time, and got a nasty look for my troubles.
Comment by Nicholas — April 18, 2011 @ 11:49