I’ve been curios about why people are being hit by cars. Before
you write to me and clobber me with driver responsibility, hear me
out and know that I’m not cold heartedly equating loss of a human
life with a deceased cat either.
I’ve been curios about why people are being hit by cars. Before you write to me and clobber me with driver responsibility, hear me out and know that I’m not cold heartedly equating loss of a human life with a deceased cat either.
Teaching kids to cross the street is a two part lesson. We all know the first part of the lesson is teaching our children to cross in the crosswalk. It is instilled in us that we are safe between the bold lines. We say it again and again and we hold their little hands and tell them to look both ways. But, the second part of the lesson is forgotten by many. As a society, we have inadvertently given kids (and adults too) a false sense of security and sometimes a downright arrogant attitude about “the right of way” and who has it. Although the crosswalk is the safest place to cross, it does not mean we are invincible. Even though pedestrians have “the right of way,” not everyone follows the law or pays attention. Occasionally I see a person arrogantly stepping into the street as if to say “you have to stop for me.” He doesn’t look both ways, and doesn’t pause in stride. I wonder if the stepped into “the suit of armor zone?” Crosswalk lines don’t protect you; they simply indicate the correct place to cross.
When we teach our children it is imperative to continue the lesson: eye contact is key. Sometimes drivers just don’t see the pedestrians.
This is perhaps the most important part of teaching kids to cross the street. First you find the crosswalk, then you wait for your signal (or look both ways very carefully if there isn’t a pedestrian signal) and lastly don’t you dare step off the curb without looking the drivers of every car you will pass in front of straight in the eye. “I see you, you see me. You see me stepping off the curb and I see you seeing me. Now I will cross the street.”
Drivers will usually nod back at you to acknowledge your presence. I don’t know why the street crossing lesson has shriveled down to a simplistic instruction and false sense of security between painted lines. It’s a devastating and gross error to teach a child half of what they need to know before they face off with vehicles and potentially with bad drivers as well. I understand that the law gives the pedestrian the right of way and in a perfect world a force field would arise out of the paint and protect all pedestrians from careless drivers. I am not willing to take that chance and risk my life. The law may give me the right of way but there’s no way I’m stepping out without eye contact or forgetting to teach my kids that invaluable rule.
I am in no way excusing bad drivers. Driving lessons are another column. But because a human will always lose the battle in a conflict with a car, we humans need to be extra careful and assume a role of personal responsibility no matter what the law states.
I know a lot of you out failed to give this eye contact instruction because I see your children crossing the street and they never look at me. It makes me wonder if this rule has just been forgotten in our abbreviated world like the rest of that old adage, people are surprised to know the saying goes, “curiosity killed the cat … and information brought it back.”
