a sighting on camera...

[RetailWorkhorse]

A lady, a man in a baseball cap, and a stroller crossed the road right in front of me yesterday. Lady was hauling a kid behind her, dunno what the hell was in the stroller. Lady saw us barreling towards her and she sped up a bit.

Baseball cap dude? Never looked up.

All three (and stroller makes four) was crossing a four-lane, with a turn-lane in the middle. They had to have timed it just so, because the light was GREEN when they started.

Dipshits.

[Kogarashi]

How's this for stupid? Jaywalking in the middle of a block on a kinda dark street....wearing all dark clothing...including a hoodie, and having the hood pulled up over your head so you can't see uncoming traffic.

I had a guy step right out in front of my car doing all three. Closest I ever came to running somebody over. Thank Dog my brakes were in good working order.

We've had that a lot around here, too. And I'm sorry, it doesn't help to have your hood down if you're African-American; your head still blends into the shadows.

Though that reminds me of a relatively recent incident around here that just creeped me out all over.

Hubby and I were heading home around 11pm after a church Christmas concert back in mid-December, and were driving through the shadier part of town. We're driving past this one complex when we come up on a guy just sort of meandering down the middle of the road. Hubby slows down behind him, but the guy doesn't look at us or move out of the way, so Hubby honked. Guy still didn't move, but he did sort of look at us.

I got all creeped out and locked my door and asked Hubby to drive around him and get out of there as quickly as we could. I didn't feel comfortable or safe at all, slow as we were going. Nothing happened, and I don't know if anything would've, but I've learned not to ignore bad feelings like that.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

How's this for stupid? Jaywalking in the middle of a block on a kinda dark street....wearing all dark clothing...including a hoodie, and having the hood pulled up over your head so you can't see uncoming traffic.

I had a guy step right out in front of my car doing all three. Closest I ever came to running somebody over. Thank Dog my brakes were in good working order.

[Broomjockey]

not to call you on that... but at least in utah and nevada the rule is bicycles may be ridden on a sidewalk as long as they are not traveling faster than a pedestrian/jogger... only when the cyclist is faster than a pedestrian must they be in the road...

Well, MM and I are both in Canada, and I've not previously heard of that exemption here, so on you.

And around here, at least, they're *never* slower than/same speed as pedestrians.

[smileyeagle1021]

Which is against traffic laws, I'm pretty sure, since this one tends to be universal: Bicycles are vehicles, and are bound by traffic laws, including needing to be on the road.

not to call you on that... but at least in utah and nevada the rule is bicycles may be ridden on a sidewalk as long as they are not traveling faster than a pedestrian/jogger... only when the cyclist is faster than a pedestrian must they be in the road...

[Broomjockey]

At least he was on the sidewalk, which is a rarity for bicyclists here.

Which is against traffic laws, I'm pretty sure, since this one tends to be universal: Bicycles are vehicles, and are bound by traffic laws, including needing to be on the road.

[mariamousie1]

Wow! Those are some beautiful mountains!

As for the jaywalker, you should come to London Ontario. Pedestrians here are morons. In fact, anyone on the road is a moron. I once saw a bicyclist, helmetless, smoking a cigarette. At least he was on the sidewalk, which is a rarity for bicyclists here.

[smileyeagle1021]

OK, I just sighted myself today

Today I jaywalked across 2100 south and proved my point about this idiot... when I started crossing there wasn't a car in sight, by the time I was halfway across I had people slamming on their brakes not to hit me
(I was taking pictures of trains in the UP trainyard for my powerpoint project that's due in like a week, the trainyard runs under 2100 south so I was running back and forth)
so yeah, I'm sticking with my original theory that the guy in the picture is a retard (2100 south where it goes over the UP train yard doesn't have as much traffic as Meadowbrook Expressway and people aren't even going as fast and I still consider what I did stupid).

[smileyeagle1021]

All it needed was a simple 3-second red light, like they had down on one of the streets through campus. (Pedestrian hits button, light goes yellow, then red, crosswalk signal turns on for about three seconds before going to the blinking "don't walk," after which the traffic light resumes being green. Quite efficient, if you ask me.)

they have those all over downtown salt lake... they are the best things ever... practically every half block has one... which is really nice at the TRAX stations so you can enter at either end rather than having to go to one end or another. Now if only they put them on state and west temple and north temple... then the world would be in peace, the sunnis and the shiite would lay down there arms... ok, so that might be an exaggeration, but at least it would be safer to walk in downtown.

[Pagan]

They've requested the city put in a crosswalk and light several times, but the city basically told them that they wouldn't do that until "someone got seriously injured or killed."

That's kind of SOP for getting a light at any intersection in Las Cruces. I do believe that's how we finally got a light at El Paseo and Farney....

[Andara Bledin]

They've requested the city put in a crosswalk and light several times, but the city basically told them that they wouldn't do that until "someone got seriously injured or killed."

Now that's when you get that response in writing, then hand it all over to the local paper and let them have a field day with the fact that it takes something bad happening before they'll put in safety equipment.

^-.-^

[Kogarashi]

Oh, I will readily admit that I will jaywalk on occasion, when the need arises. Usually this is in an instance where it would require me to go very far out of my way to actually get to a crosswalk, or where crosswalks don't exist (like out in the country by my parents' home). I would never think to cross a speedy higway.

One major instance was near a place where I worked as a desktop publisher. I had to go across the street to check on something at the university printer, and the nearest crosswalks were each 2 or 3 blocks away. This meant carefully gauging gaps in the traffic on a 4-lane road (luckily the speed limit was only 30, not that that hinders Utah drivers much, but at least they weren't zipping along at 65), then running across. Thank goodness I could wear slacks and comfy shoes instead of a skirt and dressy shoes for that job.

I spoke to my supervisor about it later, who told me that everyone in the office jaywalks that particular spot (we dealt with the printer a lot). They've requested the city put in a crosswalk and light several times, but the city basically told them that they wouldn't do that until "someone got seriously injured or killed." All it needed was a simple 3-second red light, like they had down on one of the streets through campus. (Pedestrian hits button, light goes yellow, then red, crosswalk signal turns on for about three seconds before going to the blinking "don't walk," after which the traffic light resumes being green. Quite efficient, if you ask me.)

[Andara Bledin]

... Is the jaywalker in question actually in the picture? 'Cause I can't see him.

There's a spot that looks like a floaty bit just about right in the middle of the road. That's the pedestrian. Their pants blend in with the stuff in the background, so they're hard to spot.

There are some stretches of one highway near me where they have fences in the grass median, to force people to go to the light.

They're redoing the median areas on a major street that has the local high school facing it. They're putting solid fencing up on every stretch of median just to deal with the sheer number of dumb ass kids who don't have the sense to cross at the light not 50 feet away.

^-.-^

[Broomjockey]

Mount Marcy at 5344 ft look like a speed bump!

Considering that's only 3,000 ft higher than the standard elevation here, that *is* a speed bump.

As for the OP, I admit to jaywalking on very occassional occassions. But I'd never do it on a main road, especially if a foot bridge was that close. Crazy mofo, that guy.

[Parrothead]

... Is the jaywalker in question actually in the picture? 'Cause I can't see him.


But I could just be blind.