Crosswalks and The Decline of Western Civilization

When I started this thing, I had two ideas for posts: (1) that Attractiveness Constant thing I posted a while ago; and (2) a post about crosswalks. Well, it's time for the crosswalks one, it being brought on by one of the rudest and most dangerous things that I have ever seen.

There are two crosswalks that play a pretty big role in my life. One's near our house and the one's near my office. The one near our house is located at the outlet at the corner of our circle (yes, that's right, our circle has corners, really). You have to use it to cross the street to walk to the kids' school. You have to use it to get to the nearest park. You have to use it to walk to the nearest shopping center. The one near my office crosses one of the busiest streets in Sacramento. You have to cross that street to get to a bunch of the places where I like to get lunch. You have to cross that street to get to the nearest gun shop, the nearest bridal salon, the nearest body shop and the title company where I totally went off one day when our refi lender called us and told us that we had to close the deal THAT DAY and then left us sitting in the title company office with two very bored children for an hour while they drove our closing papers all the way across metropolitan Sacramento. I managed not to use profanities, but it was one of my more psychotic moments. We used to have a lesbian bookstore and a coffin store on this street, too, but they were on our side of the street and they closed. We do still have the Hawaiian deli on our side of the street, though.

The thing that set this post off happened a couple of nights ago. The Muse and I walked down the street to the kids' school for The Mermaid's back-to-school night. It had gotten kind of dark before we started walking back. As we were walking back, a guy in an electric wheelchair came up behind us. We let him by and he said, "Don't worry, I only run over skateboarders." He is wearing a flashing red light on his chest and a solid red light on his back so that he doesn't get hit by a car. He gets down to the crosswalk near our house and starts to cross the street in the crosswalk. He gets halfway out and is waiting to cross the opposite lane. Here comes Mr. Convertible Jag in the lane that the guy in the wheelchair still needs to cross. Does Mr. Convertible Jag stop and let the guy in the wheelchair cross? HELL, NO!!! Mr. Convertible Jag just flies right on by, going at least 35 in a 25 zone. The Muse and I see this happen and start yelling at Mr. Convertible Jag, who, of course, keeps on going in his elevated tax bracket.

While particularly egregious, Mr. Convertible Jag's behavior was not unusual. I was in the crosswalk near the office the other day and had made it to the middle lane of the three-lane street. Nonetheless, this guy in a Subaru station wagon talking on a cell phone just flies on by in the last lane I needed to cross. I raise my hands up in the universal symbol for WTF and he gives me this wussy "what am I supposed to do" kind of wave. I'll tell you what you're supposed to do: YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO STOP! This sort of rudeness cuts across all political persuasions. I recently saw someone in a Toyota hybrid refuse to stop for a crosswalk. Good lord, who's next? The people with "The Goddess Is Alive And Magic Is Afoot" or "Visualize Peace" bumper stickers?

Did people used to stop at crosswalks? I imagine that they must have at some point or else they wouldn't exist. I believe that there are laws that say you are supposed to stop for them when people are waiting to cross. My impression is that the last ten years or so have seen a serious decline in the willingness of people to stop at crosswalks. People talking on cell phones while driving definitely don't stop at crosswalks. Did this start happening with the dot com people just figuring that they didn't have time to stop for regular people? Is it that people in big SUV's can't see pedestrians very well? I don't know, but it bugs me.

It isn't difficult to stop for someone who is waiting to cross in a crosswalk. You just stop and let them go. They usually give you a nice wave, sometimes even a smile. It's good for both of you. More basically, it's just common decency. You're in a car, you could kill that pedestrian if you screw up very badly. They are at your mercy, be nice. Why can't people do that? It really seems to me that people's refusal to stop for others at crosswalks reflects something bad in the culture.

What's worse is that people seem to be getting used to it. When I started noticing how infrequently people stop at crosswalks -- I can have both kids (who aren't little anymore, really, but are still noticeably kids), waiting to cross the street by our house, and ten cars will drive by without stopping -- I started trying really hard to remember to stop. Like I said, most people are very nice and smile and wave. A substantial minority now, however, look kind of irritated and just wave you by. It's like they're thinking, "What the hell, just keep going, idiot." Have we come to this? Have we come to the point where pedestrians just expect to be treated this rudely?

This is bad. This must stop. Introduce a little decency into the world and let the guy in the wheelchair with the flashing red light cross the damn street.