the stick, the stone and the puddle

well, it’s true. as i was walking toward my office in the morning from my car, i figured it’s just after 6am, so i’m ‘safer’ if i stick to the side-walk and cross the streets on the crosswalks. well, for the most part at least that offers a feeling of safety. as i’m about to cross, on the crosswalk, i see as this car fails to stop at the stop sign from the 4-way and is heading in my direction. i’m about half-way on the crosswalk and the first instinct is…to stop. i stop and just look at him to see if he’s ‘sleeping’ or simply ‘dumb’. he brakes and allows me to continue on my path to cross the street.

what can i say, 1 pedestrian, 1 car before the sun is even up and they eventually find a way to cross paths. i guess i have to be a bit more ‘careful’ and actually keep my eyes open. oh wait, i was actually aware, he failed to realize he had a stop sign prior to entering the intersection. i guess rules are meant to be broken, especially when you know ‘big brother’ is nowhere to be found.

this also reminds me of another time i almost got sandwiched between two cars. the summer of 1998, crossing a pretty major street in burnaby. red lights one way, and green for pedestrians. i start crossing the street, as i see a car going a bit too fast given the driver had a red light. no cars in front of her, and my path is set to meet up with the car. realizing that it’s probably gonna hurt me more than it’s gonna hurt the car, i did stop. the driver didn’t, ran the red light, t-boned a car and came to a stop. i look back, my sister is a bit in disbelief, my dad is sort of searching for words and then i look forward again, as 2m in front of me the woman driver that just ran the red light is already on her phone. the other driver, well she had back, neck and head pains already. so i guess i should stick to driving as crossing streets on foot for me is quite unsafe.