I regret to inform you, you no longer have the right of way.
Despite over a century of “Rules of the Road” in America, pedestrians have lost their value.
A few years ago I finally began taking advantage of living in one of the most beautiful cities, less than two miles from the beach, and incorporating five mile walks into my daily routines. It took a while but eventually I got a couple of different routes down to keep things interesting (monotony in a workout can be detrimental).
In the beginning, I felt relatively safe — physically and socially (my beautiful city is still a red one and I am quite the visible Muslim girl). Everyone waved, smiled, said hello. Cars seemed to remember the aforementioned rules of the road and obey traffic signals, like
Vehicles Turning Right: Must always check for pedestrians crossing, and for motorcycles or bikes riding alongside them.
The WALK or Walking Person Light: Identifies the right away for a pedestrian, requiring cars to yield.
A Solid Red Light: Means STOP — A right turn is only permissible IF there is not a NO TURN ON RED sign posted and pedestrians are yielded to first.
However, with the passage of time, things began to change. I can’t say there is any correlation for sure, but the more Trump flags and posters got hung, the lesser greetings, smiles, and friendliness I received, and the more aggressive drivers became.
In the last year alone, I almost got run over three times — twice the car was less than a millimeter away from my knee (zero exaggeration). The first time, I screamed because the careless woman (with her pretentious looking dog in her lap) was preparing to floor it after I had already began crossing despite it being my absolute right of way. I couldn’t tell if she just didn’t see me or didn’t care.
The second time, I got ready to pound my fist against the hood of that Tesla to grab the attention of the man who again, I honestly could not tell, if he just didn’t see me (despite continuously looking in my direction) or just didn’t give a damn or was doing it on purpose. My light turned green with the WALK sign on. He was at a red light and I was already halfway past the intersection when he decided to gas it and stop at my knee, then I moved and he gassed it again and stopped at my knee. When I raised my hand to try and flag him down, he floored it and sped off. The last incident was so bad that even the other pedestrians on the opposite side of the road, along with the other drivers, all paused to process what they had seen.
My light turned green with the walk sign on. I took one step forward and some driver decided they did wanted to run the red light despite pedestrians crossing ahead of them from both directions. The speed of the vehicle, along with the severe proximity, were so intense I got thrown backwards. When I regained composure, triple checked both ways (despite it still being my right of way), I crossed shaking vigorously. The pedestrians coming my way stopped and asked if I was okay, expressing concern over the audacity.
I’m never one to pull the racism card and cry victim, and a part of me still believes this is simply the degradation of Californian driving. I hear it from visitors from other states and countries that the driving situation here is far more reckless and threatening. Heck! Even in Syria, the chaos of driving is an organized one and the accident rates are incredibly low.
So, today’s post is yet another cautionary tale for my fellow pedestrians and bikers. Quadruple look both ways because drivers genuinely no longer care about our well-being, so we have to look out for ourselves.