Almost Made It -

[RevolverRob]

Upon our moving to Chicago my wife and I both wondered if we would make it five years without seeing a pedestrian get hit by a car. The blatant disregard, or outright antagonism, some (many) pedestrians have for traffic is impressive here in Chicago. Don't get me wrong, this isn't India, but for a developed city with ample crosswalks and sidewalks and a moderate flow of traffic, it's impressive, how many people disregard their own safety and/or physics to do what they want.

The goal was five years, today we are technically at 4 years and 365 days (we need 366 days to get to five full years) - And it happened. As I exited Petsmart this morning, I watched a woman, who was texting on her phone, walk out from between two parked cars. Simultaneous to that, I watched a woman driving a black Acura, also fucking with her phone, turn a slow corner in the parking lot. And BAM.

It was a low speed collision, not more than 5 or 6 mph, thankfully. The pedestrian who was hit, popped right back up started cursing up a storm. After a few moments though she was bent over, clearly in pain. I watched for about 10-15 seconds, to make sure I didn't need to render immediate aid. Seeing that I did not, I turned back and went into the store, found a manager and had them call the police and an ambulance. I figured better for the mega corporation to place the call and get things sorted out than me to get involved in a place I was not needed.

After, I went and checked on the pedestrian and the driver to confirm that to myself everything seemed okay. Everyone was coherent, though rattled. So, I left, to let the professionals take care of things without me getting in the way. I didn't figure a witness statement was needed. First, there are good surveillance cameras in the garage. Second, it's a parking lot/garage and no one disputed that a person driving a car hit a pedestrian. Open and shut case from a legal point of view.

Anyways, fortunately, it was a low speed affair, everyone appears fine. The pedestrian is, I'm sure at the hospital now, being checked out or refused medical care of their free will. The driver hopefully learned a lesson about texting and driving in a low stakes environment (albeit we would hope that wasn't necessary). And she'll remember that lesson every month she pays her increased insurance premiums.

And I didn't make it five full years without seeing a pedestrian get hit by a car. So, I guess my wife and I were right.

[theJanitor]

Please don't make any bets regarding my future demise. I'd like it to be a surprise

[hufnagel]

Oh I don't know... if I knew the exact day my ticket was going to get punched, you can bet everything I'd make the couple days prior REALLY interesting!

[the Schwartz]

Two people, noses buried in their respective cell phone screens, while in motion; completely unaware of their surroundings beyond their 3-foot "bubble" of personal space...

What were the odds that it wasn't going to end well?

[BillSWPA]

Even in my relaxed small town, I routinely see drivers making turns through crowded intersections with their eyes glued to their phones, oblivious to pedestrians in crosswalks. So far my wife and I have only seen one person hit by a car. We do not know if focusing on a screen was the cause.




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[Mitch]

Even in my relaxed small town, I routinely see drivers making turns through crowded intersections with their eyes glued to their phones, oblivious to pedestrians in crosswalks. So far my wife and I have only seen one person hit by a car. We do not know if focusing on a screen was the cause.




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This is exactly why I’ve stopped riding my motorcycle. Every day I see people driving literally not looking at the road. That’s not how I want to punch my ticket.


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[rayrevolver]

I lived a few years in downtown Seattle and this reminded me of the lovely sounds and noises of the city.

A Car vs Car crash was a relatively normal sound for me. I would sometimes not even get up to see what happened since I was on a surface street and the speeds were relatively low.

This one time a motorcyclist sideswiped 2 cars and then crashed on his own, I had to check it out what the hell was going on. It was a unique sounding event that finished with the usual motorcycle sliding on the deck sound.

And then of course the car vs pedestrian was also one where you hear the squealing but no crashing sound. The first time this happened I started a timer to see how long the police and ambulance would take. And it was something like 9 minutes.

Stay Safe people!

[BehindBlueI's]

In Jordan I saw the same pedestrian struck twice. He walked across the street on his phone and a stake-bed truck with a driver who was apparently just learning a clutch rolled backward into him. The pedestrian stopped to do the universal "What the fuck?" throwing up of hands and the truck began to move back up the hill, bucked, and rolled back into him again. I kind of wanted to watch to see how it played out, but the light turned and we had to move.

[HCountyGuy]

It’s something I’m surprised doesn’t happen more often, given the stated disregard some pedestrians have for automobile traffic.

They may have the legal right-of-way when utilizing a crosswalk, but that doesn’t mean one can waltz out in to the road and expect cars will always yield. When there are graveyards full of people who died in auto vs auto collisions, you can’t reasonably believe you’re going to fare better when it’s your body directly vs an auto.

[Seven_Sicks_Two]

We moved to Portland, OR from Southern California about 3.5 years ago and I'm still flabbergasted by the attitude of pedestrians here. They don't bother to look both ways, use crosswalks or wait for a lull in traffic. They just step out into the street and expect cars to stop... then take their time ambling across the street.