Replies: 8 Comments
on Tuesday, November 8th, barry said
This intersection is nuts. I think because everyone thinks its close to home that they forget the rules of the road. I almost got creamed EXACTLY where this woman did by an idiot driver who was looking for on coming traffic south down spadina to turn north on spadina. While he was doing this he rolled through the crosswalk (still looking south) not even looking for pedestrians. I got out of the way just in time. I hope this woamn is ok. Anyway great idea for a site.. keep up the good work. Everytime i cross the street nowadays I look for cars as I feel theyre not looking for me.
on Wednesday, November 9th, Tanya said
Sadly there seem to be far too many nutty intersections in Toronto these days. Drivers are becoming less and less patient, and its scary to do something as simple as walk around. Something needs to be done about it. They could start by banning right turns on reds - while convenient for those who can understand the concept of stopping first and yielding, too many drivers blow right around the corner without checking for people first.
on Thursday, November 10th, jason said
while i do agree with all of the points made so far, being a pedestrian/ cyclist/ skateboarder/ driver, i try my best to look at the problem from as many sides as i can. i find in situations like this, the immediate reaction is to blame the driver of the vehicle — and while a large percentage of the time, it is the driver who is to blame, there are also times when the pedestrian/cyclist does equally stupid shit that needlessly puts them into harms way.
i can't even begin to count the number of times i've watched pedestrians (and a lot of times, parents with small children) nearly get themselves creamed dodging through traffic, when often they are only 15 or 20 feet away from a crosswalk. or people that are in too much of a hurry to actually push the crosswalk button.
how can you blame everything on the car when you're so unwilling to take any safety precautions yourself?
and while i have absolutely no problem sharing the road with bicycles (seeing how, during the summer months i spend more time on my bicycle than i do in my car), i wish to god it would be mandatory for all bicycle riders to actually have to learn the rules of the road. running lights and stop signs, cutting up the inside of cars who've been signaling their right-turn for half a block — the list could go on for pages and pages.
i'm by no means defending ignorant and inattentive drivers, but the assumption that the driver is always at fault, and a seeming unwillingness to examine the equal responsibilities of pedestrians and cyclists, makes me crazy.
on Monday, November 14th, Martino said
I think when you chose to drive you have to accept the potential liability for being stuck in a noisy two tonne metal box with poor sidelines. If you don't like that then don't drive and please stop blaming the victim.
It's really becoming out of fashion.
on Tuesday, November 15th, jason said
Martino:
if you're referring to my comments, then please try re-reading them before you speak. in no way did i "blame the victim". all i did was to indicate that ALL people on the street have to follow certain rules to ensure safety for everyone. god forbid that that should be considered such a 'radical' idea.
on Wednesday, November 16th, Martino said
I did.
"I can't even begin to count the number of times i've watched pedestrians (and a lot of times, parents with small children) nearly get themselves creamed dodging through traffic, when often they are only 15 or 20 feet away from a crosswalk. or people that are in too much of a hurry to actually push the crosswalk button."
Hmm. Sounds like you're blaming the victim. It's okay, the Police, and the media often do too.
That's car culture for you. When an elderly person is run over, as happens so often in the suburbs, media/police reports are quick to point out that a crosswalk was only a couple of hundred meters away, implying that the person would have lived if they had used it. Convenient. Blame the victim and you can keep things as they are. Certainly all users of the road share responsibilties as far as safety is concerned. I believe, drivers though need to accept a bigger piece of this burden since they, well, are more likely to kill someone. That is to say, if you hit a pedestrian or cyclist with a car, you hand over the license for good. (Yes, even if the pedestrian or cyclist did something wrong!) That way a driver would think twice about zooming through a crosswalk, red light, stop sign or speed down a residential street. Too harsh? That's the law in the Netherlands and Germany already.
As far as cyclists and pedestrians are concerned most of us are just trying to get off the streets in one piece and as fast as possible, so no wonder we take a few short cuts along the way. Too bad drivers just
are too much in hurry to stop. Maybe the answer to all this is that we just slowed down a bit, eh? Ah, but it's a big city and time is money. Trouble is, that making money comes with a tragic price tag: lives.
on Thursday, November 17th, Jane said
well that's just silly. Nobody can argue that car drivers shouldn't have to take extra care around pedestrians and cyclists because they can do them damage, but, if the pedestrian or cyclist is entirely to blame then it is ridiculous to punish the vehicle driver.
What about if the vehicle driver ie taxi, tradesman, truck driver provides for both himself and his family through his job, then they all suffer because of someone else? really that's ridiculous.
I could go into the circumstance where my mother hit a small child who ran out from behind a parked car straight in front of her (she had no chance to avoid him, and was quite traumatized by the event) but would there be much point when talking to such an openly bigoted person such as yourself?
Jane
on Friday, November 25th, Martino said
I don't think so, Jane.
I'd probably just ask her to stop driving.
