On Mon, 29 Mar 2004 04:01:26 +0000, John M Price PhD wrote:
Excellency had stayed at the scene, there would not have been a single
charge filed against him. It was jay walking, at night, drunk, etc.
Well, pedestrians have a right to be out at night too.
After 20+ years of dedicated walking/jogging/running, I jaywalk in the
middle of the block whenever practical. It lets me gauge only two traffic
vectors for 1/2 a block each way. MORE-OR-LESS -- driveways, alleys and
such. It's best to have a learned route. "Runner's bliss" aside, I think
drivers often underestimate how much is being calculated in real-time in
the survivalist runner's mind. If I die from an "oopsie", I sure as hell
want it to be _my_ oopsie. I estimate at least 1 in a 1000 drivers in my
metro will run you over in a crosswalk like a dog so that cuts a lifetime
exercise program pretty short. And why shouldn't that be a good estimate?
It's probably like saying 1 in 10 people with psychopathic disorder aren't
very bright. And there are NO indicators by age, race, gender or wealth to
gauge who will or will not stop. I've had dudes who could appear in a
Willie Horton crack ad stop in the street and wave me across while little
old ladies in Caddies damn near graze me. And vice-versa. NO way to
judge the heart, or competence, from appearances and being a frequent
pedestrian is a good if harsh way to learn that. I have actually met
three secretaries in only two workplaces, each of which had their fathers
run over and killed at a stop light or stop sign crosswalk. It's a
cultural blind spot. So try to convince me I shouldn't jaywalk so I can
die righteously in a cross walk with the undertaker teasing an "I told you
I was in the right" smile unto my corpse for the casket photo.
But a pedestrian has to stay stone-cold frosty. So all that said: Drunk?
Put himself in a location a car would traverse shortly? Ok, it was his
oopsie. No argument that he met natural selection half-way. If there is
one thing I've learned as an urban runner: Life is really just a jungle
under the gift wrap and mistakes are fatal. The rest is just stories we
like to tell each other.
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