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Why I need to get out of the city

On this morning’s run, I saw two different cars running red lights. This isn’t remarkable in and of itself; after all, around here the unwritten rule is, green means go, red means go a little faster.

It’s that both cars were running red lights across crosswalks where I had a nice, clear “Walk” signal and was about to run across. And when I say, “Running red lights,” I don’t mean treating them as stop signs; I mean treating them as green lights.

So yeah, that’s you, the guy in the dark green Jeep going east on Lawrence at the corner of Governor’s Ave (conveniently close to the hospital) and you, too, the lady woman in the white Toyota turning right off the Alewife Brook Parkway at Winthrop street. You might have been in a hurry, but stopping for the red light (and the pedestrians you’re required by law to yield to) is less likely to make you later than having one of them sprawled across your hood.

Because if I keep running in this city, sooner or later I’m going to wind up as someone’s hood ornament. A’s been clipped once already. I’d rather go back somewhere where venturing out on the roads didn’t mean taking your life in your hands.

Now Playing: The Bell And The Butterfly from Wonderland by The Charlatans

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Posted by pjm on July 23, 2007 11:18 AM |

Comments

Sheesh. At least when you’re on a bike you are (or should be) operating as a vehicle. That means you’re usually moving with traffic in the same lanes, not perpendicular to traffic or (as some runners, and a few unfortunate cyclists, do) moving against traffic. Basically the idea is that if you’re on a bike, acting like a car, then drivers will be looking at you. That is, they’ll be looking, as they normally do, for cars moving in the established traffic patterns and will see you instead. Or that’s the theory at least. Sounds like these guys would have been likely to hit a cyclist who might have quickly appeared, legally crossing the intersection, at the time they decided to gun it. I wonder what the numbers are for rider v. runner car-related injuries? And how those numbers break down in terms of how the rider/runner was routing themselves in relation to traffic? There was a bicycle report out there (too gassed to find it right now) - do you know of any runner accident breakdowns?

(BTW - I don’t mean to imply that these characters shouldn’t have stopped for you, or shouldn’t have looked for pedestrians. I just suspect it might be more dangerous for runners/pedestrians because I’m guessing they’re often where drivers don’t think to look. Although, obviously, a crossing area is a place where any normal person would expect to see a pedestrian or two. Duh.)

Posted by: Scoplaw | July 23, 2007 3:50 PM

Where was it that Stephen King hit? I don’t think it was in the city!

Posted by: Andy | July 25, 2007 9:25 AM

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