DC's Got Attitude
Yes, when it comes to crosswalk culture. See DCist's post regarding Council member Cheh's proposal to increase fines tenfold for motorists failing to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks. For me, the most true-ringing part of the post was the quote from an unnamed ANC commissioner on the last line: "You are asking that drivers engage in a quantum shift in their attitudes towards pedestrians and bicyclists...no small task."
You can't change a culture very quickly, even with bigger fines. There would need to be some kind ongoing and sustained public service announcement advertising blitz. Enforcement, as mentioned in the article, would be key - such that word-of-mouth tales of paying steep fines might spread among the suburban office workers that drive into the city. But I fear that the DC police force won't or can't make this a priority with everything else that goes on. The city needs to hire some kind of Blackwater-like contract security force to sit at crosswalks and have the authority to pull people over and issue tickets. But my other fear is just this - that in order to change a culture (quickly) only drastic measures work. Like having jack-booted thugs patrol our crosswalks. Otherwise, we have to get MD and VA to modify their driver's ed curricula and DMV tests to emphasize the laws in their neighboring District. And then wait for kids to grow up in a new driving culture. I guess that's pretty far-fetched.
Anyway, not the mention the plethora of DC-plated cars I see failing to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks. It's really an all-around driving culture here that suffers from a large transient population not invested in local communities and not sympathetic to other people's ways of wanting to do things ("this ain't how we do it in NY, NC, TX, OH, etc."). I think it's the curse of being the Federal City. We don't get voting rights, we don't get to dictate how people can act when they come here for business because DC belongs to everyone and no one.
4 comments:
And the pedestrians and cyclists create even more danger by their stupidity. Jaywalking. Weaving in and out of traffic, biking the wrong way on a one way street. I share a car here and barely ever drive, but when I do, I am surprised more pedestrians and cyclists are not hit every day. They are dumb. Have Blackwater give them tickets too.
James - Pedestrians and cyclists take their own lives when they do what you describe. Drivers take other people's lives... Its a matter of physics (2000lb beats 1-300lbs any day of the week).
Ticketing the people who can kill with their ignorance or stupidity is far more important than ticketing the stupid people who seem intent on killing themselves.
Amen, daniel. Jaywalking gets on my nerves, too, but that doesn't justify not slowing down and/or speeding up when you see someone up ahead crossing illegally. There is this constant power struggle in this town and it plays out most dangerously on the streets. I can't believe people seriously need to assert their superiority while behind a 2-ton vehicle. OF COURSE you're going to win if you're competing against someone on foot.
On the other hand, I'm starting to sympathize with jaywalkers. I've been almost hit by cars more while crossing legally than crossing illegally.
And if I hear one more person in this town deride Los Angeles for its bad drivers, I'm gonna stab someone. At least in LA, drivers take out their frustrations on each other, not pedestrians (for the most part).
I think part of the problem lies in ambiguity. I'm both an angry pedestrian and an angry driver. My pedestrian anger comes out when I'm actually in the middle of the crosswalk and a car (usually a cab) almost ends my life. But as a driver, am I supposed to anticipate when someone is thinking about getting into a crosswalk? My policy is not to stop unless someone makes a move to get into the street or is already there. Yet I've had plenty of people wave their fists at me for not stopping while they are firmly planted on the sidewalk. Is this wrong?
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