I was walking home from work yesterday. I take the mixed use recreational trail (also known as the rail trail from its former life as a railroad track, or the bike path).
I came to a semi-busy intersections (the street it crosses feeds directly into a hospital and a high school), look left, right, and left. No traffic. I start crossing. There is a crosswalk--bright stripe-y lines. Suddenly! A cyclist!
I'm not quite halfway across so I sorta slow down. Cyclist doesn't signal, so I think that maybe he's going straight down the street and not turning onto the bike path. He brakes. Sharply. I look at him, he looks at me, scowls, them wings his bike around me (taking a left). He shouts over his shoulder "You had a stop sign!"
My mind takes a second to reboot, so I all I could think of saying was "You shoulda signaled!" But what I meant was, "I'm a f***ing pedestrian! I have the right of way!"
Now, there is a stop sign on either side of the trail where it crosses main roads, but in my state, pedestrians in crosswalks have the right of way. Also the road was clear when I started crossing.
I came to a semi-busy intersections (the street it crosses feeds directly into a hospital and a high school), look left, right, and left. No traffic. I start crossing. There is a crosswalk--bright stripe-y lines. Suddenly! A cyclist!
I'm not quite halfway across so I sorta slow down. Cyclist doesn't signal, so I think that maybe he's going straight down the street and not turning onto the bike path. He brakes. Sharply. I look at him, he looks at me, scowls, them wings his bike around me (taking a left). He shouts over his shoulder "You had a stop sign!"
My mind takes a second to reboot, so I all I could think of saying was "You shoulda signaled!" But what I meant was, "I'm a f***ing pedestrian! I have the right of way!"
Now, there is a stop sign on either side of the trail where it crosses main roads, but in my state, pedestrians in crosswalks have the right of way. Also the road was clear when I started crossing.
Comment