Often when I’m crossing a street–on my bike or walking or walking with my small children–a driver will be slowly driving at me. They’ll be creeping past the stop line and into the crosswalk, hoping to go through right after I clear their fender. Make no mistake, I’ll have the right of way. They’ll be waiting at a stop sign or looking to turn right on a red.
A lot of you do this, and here’s the thing; I don’t care how nice you are out of your car, how caring, how altruistic, how thoughtful; when you do this, when you creep towards a vulnerable road user–especially young children–you’re being an asshole.
Stop it. It’s rude. It’s threatening. It’s selfish. It’s intimidating. It’s fucking dangerous.
Recently, a New York driver did this. And she killed a one-year-old and three-year-old, and sent a pregnant woman to the hospital. From the story:
The woman told officers that she was creeping up a bit at the intersection in anticipation of the red light changing and then accidentally hit the accelerator, according to the Post report, which cited information from sources.
Make no mistake about it, this woman is a murderer, if the word is to mean anything at all. She intentionally drove her car at people, then “accidentally” accelerated at them.
Because New York authorities take things so seriously, they let the killer go.
I was a bit surprised by this story…no, not that a driver “accidentally” killed two kids, of course not…no, not that cops didn’t seem to give a shit, that’s par for the course. I was surprised because this story seemed to get some actual traction. I know social media isn’t a great barometer for what real people are thinking, but I did see a lot of people who aren’t normally concerned with such issues tweeting their horror–at both the crime and the lax attitude of the cops.
I mean, part of me was thinking, well, duh, this isn’t particularly uncommon, but I was slightly comforted by the notion that there could be a street killing so tragic that people were actually noticing.
So, yeah, the next time you’re at a stop line and a bike or a pedestrian–or kids, for fuck sake–are crossing. Just stop your damned car. Sit there. Wait your turn. And don’t try to bully anyone to get out of your way. Accept that you saving .5 seconds on your fucking commute isn’t worth more than their lives.
Creeping into intersections like this, intentionally driving right at people, makes you an asshole.
And as we’ve seen, it could also make you a killer.
Steps from the Canal 
I will usually walk really slow in front of the car when this happens to me. I know it’s dangerous because in some cases it just pisses the driver off. Or I just stop walking and act like I’m changing directions. For the record, I also drive. I drive several times a week when there is something in my neighbourhood I can’t find or when it’s just too cold out there. I think there should be raised intersections at every opportunity. I think there should be speed bumps on every street. Here’s proof at how bad people are with their speed. Parking lots need speed bumps. Think about it. You’re already at your destination. You are moments away from parking and going into your store, coffee shop, etc. And yet the owner of this strip mall has to install speed bumps because even though you are just moments from parking, you still can’t slow down. If that’s not proof that there is too much speeding by too many people, then I don’t know what is. Think about it. Sorry for jumping from topic to topic.
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This is largely a problem of bad design of North American intersections, compounded by MUTCD and its Canadian equivalent. Cut to Germany (and many other places), where traffic lights are aligned between the stop line and the crosswalk. There are no traffic signals on the opposite side of the intersection (though in places like the UK, there will be two lights at the stop line, on either side of the nearside, and one light on the far side). This forces drivers to stop before the crosswalk and makes it almost impossible for drivers to see the light if they pull forward. North American roadway design is dangerous in its neglect for the safety of pedestrians.
I don’t know enough about the US to say if the problem is worse there due to bad design but I see similar arsehole behaviour in the UK and Australia.
the woman in ny you described is a….murderer? lol simmer down.
lol people are just dead. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ amirite
She killed two children and your response is “lol”?
this is exactly the lax attitude why we are where we are. There was a person who was operating a machine who was being impatient, in a hurry, then oops kids are dead.
“my bad” does that cover the extreme fluck up?
If not charged for murder at least take the flucking license away. A driver’s license is NOT a right. This person severely abused her privilege.
Happens here in the UK too. Good description.
Happens here in Chicago all the time. Chicago is a huge “car privilege” city, where a combination of subsidized suburbs and passive pedestrians makes drivers think they don’t even have to slow down. They assume you will stop and go barreling into intersections. People do get hit, people do get killed; but the city does nothing about car privilege, based on outdated and discredited beliefs about the importance of cars to the city. I actually bought one of those construction site STOP signs and wear reflective construction vests when walking around the city.
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