A New Jersey law (39:4-36) says drivers are supposed to stop for pedestrians in a crosswalk. Knowing that can cause me to overthink at critical moments, but I have three strategies:
1) If the driver stops at a respectable distance and seems to have no problem with that, I speed up for the remaining distance with appreciative alacrity, sending a smile and a thank-you wave in transit. Even if there is a law.
2) If the driver jams it and seems to get huffy about it, I fake an old man shuffle. Or if I'm in a younger mood, I turn on the slow bop only urban-bred males know how to execute with maximum annoyance.
3) If I can see from the speed there's no way that car's going to stop, I'll pull up just close enough so I don't get clipped by the sideview mirror. I get that primal impulse to shout something and give the finger, but I don't give in to it. Dignity, always dignity.
The NJ Division of Traffic Safety has announced a program to enforce the law. "Known as 'Cops in Crosswalks,' the initiative will be run by 17 police agencies in Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, and Gloucester Counties, August 17 through September 13, 2009. Undercover police officers, acting as pedestrians, are placed at crosswalks throughout a community. Motorists who fail to yield to the undercover officers crossing the street are stopped and either warned or ticketed by uniformed officers a short distance away."
As a part-time pedestrian, I think this is great, even if it is tainted by the $4,000 grant to each participating police department. The have-you-stopped-beating-your-wife question is why can't the law be enforced without the grant? I'm not a medium so I can't speak for the 100 or so dead pedestrians annually who may have benefited from an assumption of strict enforcement.
Back to my three basic strategies. A dozen legislators want to put an end to this game of chicken. They've sponsored bills requiring drivers to stop when pedestrians are at a crosswalk, even if they're still on the curb waiting to cross. That's not as impossible as it sounds. When we visited Annapolis it took us a few hours to get used to the idea that practically every car stopped as soon as we thought about crossing. That was nice. Civilized. But the bills in the NJ Legislature seem to be going nowhere.
In the meantime, I wish the program success.
1) If the driver stops at a respectable distance and seems to have no problem with that, I speed up for the remaining distance with appreciative alacrity, sending a smile and a thank-you wave in transit. Even if there is a law.
2) If the driver jams it and seems to get huffy about it, I fake an old man shuffle. Or if I'm in a younger mood, I turn on the slow bop only urban-bred males know how to execute with maximum annoyance.
3) If I can see from the speed there's no way that car's going to stop, I'll pull up just close enough so I don't get clipped by the sideview mirror. I get that primal impulse to shout something and give the finger, but I don't give in to it. Dignity, always dignity.
The NJ Division of Traffic Safety has announced a program to enforce the law. "Known as 'Cops in Crosswalks,' the initiative will be run by 17 police agencies in Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, and Gloucester Counties, August 17 through September 13, 2009. Undercover police officers, acting as pedestrians, are placed at crosswalks throughout a community. Motorists who fail to yield to the undercover officers crossing the street are stopped and either warned or ticketed by uniformed officers a short distance away."
As a part-time pedestrian, I think this is great, even if it is tainted by the $4,000 grant to each participating police department. The have-you-stopped-beating-your-wife question is why can't the law be enforced without the grant? I'm not a medium so I can't speak for the 100 or so dead pedestrians annually who may have benefited from an assumption of strict enforcement.
Back to my three basic strategies. A dozen legislators want to put an end to this game of chicken. They've sponsored bills requiring drivers to stop when pedestrians are at a crosswalk, even if they're still on the curb waiting to cross. That's not as impossible as it sounds. When we visited Annapolis it took us a few hours to get used to the idea that practically every car stopped as soon as we thought about crossing. That was nice. Civilized. But the bills in the NJ Legislature seem to be going nowhere.
In the meantime, I wish the program success.
As long as the undercovers aren't texting while crossing. That's different.
0 comments:
Post a Comment