Photo via FlickrMy grade 12 English teacher, Mr. Connors, would have a heart attack over the title of this post, but it has more emphasis if I use bad grammar, like I'm all street and stuff.
I was nearly run over this morning as I crossed a stop-sign controlled junction in the north part of the Oshawa GO lot. In other words, the dude didn't stop.
The dude looked right at me as he accelerated, yes, ACCELERATED, through the intersection. So you know what I did? I stood my ground. Yes, this was stupid. I agree.
He came to a screeching halt and I remained standing there. To hell with the train! I'll be late for this. What's the hurry?!
I know you'd love to have me write that my bag and earrings came off, and my gloves were thrown to the pavement, but there was no bag beat down.
After a 30 second stand-off, I let the guy go.
There seems to be a growing disregard for pedestrian safety in the parking lots and we shouldn't stand for it. We all have to walk to our vehicles!
7 comments:
Even worse than the cars in the parking lot at Pickering are the busses entering the station. Twice I have almost been hit by bus drivers who fail to yield the right away as I am crossing the bus entrance.
try walking in Mississauga.
Most suburban parking lots are simply not built pedestrian friendly, just to maximize the amount of spaces the owner can fit in. Try walking across store buildings at Trinity Common or Vaughan Mills malls, which are surrounded by parking lots. It's safer to drive between stores.
I had the same thing happen to me tonight at Whitby. Dude almost took me out at the stop sign with the pedestrian walkway lines.
I agree that drivers should be careful and obey street signs while exiting the parking lot. However, I also notice a number of pedestrians with a sense of entitlement to the parking lot. What I mean by that is that they take their sweet time crossing diagonally rather than straight across the intersections. I respect the street signs and always look for pedestrians, but please people, respect and consideration goes both ways.
I've had that happen a couple of times with me at a 4-way stop on my way home from the GO station. I've looked across, seen the car stopped, started to cross... and then have the car zoom past in front of me. Last time I could have knocked off their wing mirror if I had stuck my arm out a foot.
My bugbear is crossing over at a stop sign, and the driver acting surprised that when I step out into the road. (Because pesdestrians never cross at a crosswalk, right?)
I love it when TomW. speaks Brit.
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