Comment 37496

By Really? (registered) | Posted January 27, 2010 at 15:45:34

I walk everywhere (unless I'm on the bus or subway), and I am admittedly an 'Aggressive Pedestrian' (must be from the years I've spent as a pedestrian in Toronto). I can see how a pedestrian can be to blame, especially in regards to the TTC Streetcar incident.

When I cross a busy cross-section, I usually remove my earbuds or simply pause my iPod to ensure I can see & hear everything around (pedestrians know one cannot simply rely on sight when crossing, say, Main & Bay). If a Pedestrian chooses to ignore regular safety protocol (ie: look both ways before you cross, EVEN on Main Street --I've seen plenty of wrong-way drivers in my life), then they should be considered partly at fault. Maybe not 50-50, but 25% at least.

As a pedestrian, I know it's not just my responsibility to ensure my safety, but the drivers around me as well; which really irks me when I see idiots on the road who never seem to get ticketed (ie: those pulled out fully in the middle of a cross-walk when stuck at a Red).

But rather than complaining about being targeted, what can Pedestrians do to get Politicians and the POLICE on our side? How can we convince them that poor drivers are mostly to blame, and that a crackdown on J-Walking is only a bandaid solution?

... but in the meantime, all those pedestrians like me ('agressive') need to do a better job paying attention, and yes, we need to realize that we do share the roads with Vehicles no matter how much we dislike this (although I think this is a much more serious problem in TO than here in the Hammer... prolly b/c no one in the Hammer walks)

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