Several weeks ago I had been at the post office and wanted to walk across
Washington at Fifth, toward Howard Hughes and Main Street.
The light at Sixth had just turned green, and the pack was eagerly
streaming north. In the middle lane the leading car slowed down and
stopped, and when I was sure the first lane was clear, I started
out, but then there was a crash and a shriek, and it appeared that one
truck had rear-ended another truck about four vehicles back in the middle
lane. I anxiously finished crossing -- you never know about lane three
until you're out there (because often they can't see you) -- and resolved
not to cross there again at mid-day if I could help it.
We are all extremely appreciative of thoughtful drivers, and we all try to
be thoughtful as drivers, but *nothing* is right about those croswalks. I
would have been happy to wait until the traffic had naturally cleared,
when it would have been safer for everybody involved. A friend tells me
that when he arrives at the curb, ready to walk across, he turns
around and pretends not to be going that way if there is a lot of
fast-moving traffic, just to avoid the kind of situation above.
Nobody was hurt the day of the rear-ending, but given the various dangers
of pitting three lanes of fast-moving traffic against a single pedestrian
whom some of that traffic can't see, that was just luck. Surely we have
to fix this.
Dody Dozier