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Brittney Gilbert at Eye On Blogs brings our attention to what could be our new favorite blog, The Pedestrianist. More than any driver or cyclist, the delicate pedestrian is the single most maligned minority in the history of the world, ever. (Examples: Where are our energizer stations? Where are our street closures? Where are our coalitions? Where in the hell are our biergartens with porta-potties?) Apparently, jaywalkers make streets safer. We're living speed bumps, if you will. The Pedestrianist says:
Motorists sacrifice the safety of other road users in exchange for speed; bicyclists do too, to a lesser extent; pedestrians do not endanger anyone else by their choice of transportation. When breaking a traffic law further exaggerates these differences it's far worse, IMHO, than when breaking a traffic law results in a more even - and safer - playing field.
Genius in its accuracy and logic, yes? But wait, there's more:
When a driver blows through a red light, he's sacrificing the safety of others for his own speed even more than the already high baseline of driving. That's worse than when a bicyclist blows through a stop sign (assuming no pedestrians are around) not because bicyclists are morally superior, but because the bicyclist's behavior makes everyone slow down, which makes everyone safer.And when pedestrians jaywalk (assuming they are not oblivious to their surroundings) they make both bikes and cars slow down. And that's a great thing.
It is a great thing, agreed. Except for the whole hit-by-a-truck-and-killed thing, that is.
That said, who wants to start the SF Pedestrian Coalition? Also, check out WalkSF for more on pedestrian issues.
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Brock, Walk SF does a pretty good job of pedestrian advocacy, even though they aren't as big as the SFBC.
I don't know, I'm occasionally a cyclist, occasionally a driver, often a Muni-rider, but like most people here, usually a pedestrian, and I think jaywalkers def. make things more dangerous in the long run in terms of unpredictability. There are plenty of crosswalks in this town and relatively pedestrian-friendly road rules (esp. compared to elsewhere).
I guess my main pedestrian whine is when people jaywalk in front of Muni--dozens, sometimes hundreds of people, get held up because one person couldn't wait their turn.
Anyway...
Just yesterday morning I whacked an SUV with my thermos while walking to work. He ran a red (wasn't even close, the car in front of him also ran it) at Pine & Kearny..........sure made his day - he got out of the car and huffed & puffed.....heheheh
Towards a completely risk-free narcissistic world!
Haha
Everyone's an asshole.
i am a professional pedestrian of nearly 14 years in this city, and i have mastered the art of jay-walking. i refuse to apologize for this. single-digit close calls. most of those have been with bike commuters on market street blowing through red lights.
auto lanes should be reduced, bike lanes made skinnier, and sidewalks widened! ever tried to walk two abreast down Valencia Street? it's retahded.
for this reason i LOVE Dolores Street.
Jeff D
[url removed -- SFist]
Jeff: You are absolutely right. This is all about you. Everything should be done for you convenience. Rules are for other people. There is no reason you should pay attention to laws or even to bother to consider that you might be inconveniencing someone else or creating a dangerous situation. It is people like you that make living in the City such a pleasure.
since i'm incapable of processing sarcasm, i'll just say, "you're welcome."
You are apparently incapable of many things -- including thinking of anyone but yourself.
I don't mind the Jaywalking, I just hate having to hammer our the big dents they leave on the on front of my Hummer.
hurrrr
i'm a biker and i'm fine with jaywalkers and jaywalking.
p.s. valencia is gettting wider sidewalks.
Let me make sure I understand this. This person is advocating FOR walking against red lights?
I guess the best thing I can say about that position is that its advocates won't be around long to espouse it. But you go, Freedom Walker!
red lights are for people going fast, or who don't feel like looking beyond a half-block distance.
I have no idea what you're trying to say.
Relax, people, let Darwin do his job.
FTW
Pedestrian/Jaywalker here. I almost got a ticket a couple weeks ago for jaywalking, and I probably would have deserved it. We all need to pay better attention to what's going on around us, no matter our modes of transportation.
Quoting Peter Norton's "Street Rivals: Jaywalking and the Invention of the Motor Age Street":
Before the American city could be physically reconstructed to
accommodate automobiles, its streets had to be socially reconstructed
as places where cars belong. Until then, streets were regarded as
public spaces, where practices that endangered or obstructed others
(including pedestrians) were disreputable. Motorists' claim to street
space was therefore fragile, subject to restrictions that threatened
to negate the advantages of car ownership. Epithets—especially joy
rider—reflected and reinforced the prevailing social construction of
the street.
Automotive interest groups (motordom) recognized this
obstacle and organized in the teens and 1920s to overcome it. One tool
in this effort was jaywalker. Motordom discovered this obscure
colloquialism in the teens, reinvented it, and introduced it to the
millions. It ridiculed once-respectable street uses and cast doubt on
pedestrians' legitimacy in most of the street. Though many pedestrians
resented and resisted the term and its connotations, motordom's
campaign was a substantial success.
Every time I return from a business week in Manhattan, I have to retrain myself. Locals in NY just go when there is a gap, especially when walking north or south on the Avenues, crossing the much narrower east/west Streets.
If you don't go, you'll find yourself getting shoved aside after a while.
The pedestrian lights aren't timed all that well, so if you wait for the green, you hit the next corner just as it turns red.
Jaywalkers, Doing God's Work?
Only when they're carrying Watchtower magazines.
The self entitled jay walker in this town rivals the attitude of the bicyclist on sidewalks. You all deserve to get run over by cars, trucks and buses as far as I'm concerned. You make life a living hell for everyone around you, including honest peds and bikes that respect the world around them.
I am constantly looking out for peds in crosswalks when I drive. I stop before the lines. If I hit you anywhere else, it's your fault. Grow the fuck up. Losers!!!
Testify!
Just yesterday I saw an idiot biker get punked off his bike by this big dude he tried to ride right in front of. Totally deserved that one. Ha!
Also, that site makes no mention of the swarms of jackasses in the Tenderloin that walk across the street whenever they feel like it.