Today as I was driving down the narrow, altogether awful Wisconsin Avenue, I encountered a female pedestrian standing at the crosswalk, in the middle of the road. She looked like she wanted to charge across the road. The light turned green. We locked eyes. I glared at her, inwardly daring her to take one step out. She glared back, hating the fact that while she would go against me woman to woman at any other time, she doesn't really relish the visage of being flattened on the streets of Wisconsin, her limbs spewed in all four directions. I gunned down my car ferociously, and victoriously soared past her.
Having been a pedestrian myself many a times, I do recognize the heady temptation of just darting across the street, free and unencumbered, doing the little frogger thing. However my conscience is clear in that I have never deliberately set out to stop traffic by oh-so-casually sauntering across the road in the midst of oncoming traffic. Usually it's the decidedly less dignified scurrying of a mouse if I have to be quick about it.
I don't personally understand the psychology of jaywalkers. These insouciant devil-may-care airhead pedestrians who casually stroll across the road, crosswalk or no crosswalk, red light or no red light. The world is apparently their oyster. Did they think the forces of nature will all conspire to help them at that last critical moment? If the driver strives to come to a screeching halt in 2.5 seconds from an initial velocity of 35 mph, how far of a distance do they think the car will travel? Probably far enough to smear them nice and bloodily over some gravelled pavement on Rt. 355. Sure the driver is in no hurry to go share the jail cell with some italian mafioso and the local child molester, but the law of physics binds everyone. The law can't help you when you're six feet under.
That said, I probably should NOT have been so quick to floor my gas pedal either. Mini-Mom sitting on my right shoulder shakes her head at me reprovingly. Bad Emily. Bad bad emily.
7 comments:
No! Good Emily good! You did the right thing. It was your right of way. I follow the right of way. If it's my right of way, I'll run you over. End of story. I'll happily run into a jay walker to teach him or her a lesson. If you want to be stupid, then you deserve to be punished. Remember, criminals thrive on the indulgence of society's understanding.
Jason, you're like Stewie, subversive but so earnestly so. It cracks me up.
How am I subversive? I advocate the law. I AM THE LEEAAW!
Okay now you're just being silly
That was Judge Dred by the way.
Being the One is kind of like being in love. No one can tell you you're in love. You just know, through and through. Do you know what that sign says? I says, "Know thy self".
You got the gift, I'll give you that. But it seems to me like you're waiting for something.
i'm having clementines right now. they're seedy.
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