Dear Editor:
Brendan McAleer’s Changing Speed Limits is No Quick Fix, Jan. 27 Grinding Gears column raises the point about distracted pedestrians who mosey across an intersection, seemingly unable to walk at a normal pace while obsessed with their digital devices. As a pedestrian myself, I am ever alert and try to make eye contact with drivers – and give them a friendly wave to thank them for not running me over. As a driver, especially on rainy nights when every other pedestrian is wearing black, I am ever alert to avoid running them over.
However, there is another category of wacky pedestrians in North Vancouver, who have no compunction about crossing against the traffic light. More than once I have been stranded while driving halfway across Lonsdale on a green light, only to see a parent with stroller and toddler in tow stepping off the curb in front of me. Of course I stop – and my light turns yellow and then red – and the drivers who now have the green light sit blaring their horns at me.
What would they like me to do? Flatten mom and the two kids? Oh, and then there’s the elderly couple, one with a cane or a walker, who perform the same maneuver in front of me. I’m amazed that more pedestrians aren’t wiped out on our city’s streets. North Vancouver is not a sleepy suburb any longer, folks – wake up!
I hope to be that elderly person with a walker someday, but you can be darned sure I’ll obey the traffic lights. My life may depend on it.
Sheila Cano
North Vancouver
What are your thoughts? Send us a letter via email by clicking here or post a comment below.
