You’d think with this fantastic weather folks wouldn’t mind walking to the corner. But I just came back from a slew of errands across several villages and could not believe the number of pedestrians who kept crossing in front of my car and other cars too. (Including the family of one of my favorite elected officials jaywalking across Walnut Street in Newtonville) Yikes.
Watch out: jaywalkers everywhere!
by Greg Reibman | Apr 14, 2012 | Newton | 18 comments
Perfect photo!
I know I shouldn’t be taking pictures on my smart phone while driving down Walnut Street but I couldn’t resist.
LOL! Is that pic from The (Cross)Walking Dead? 😉
Greg gets in his car and drives “to several villages” and he’s concerned about jaywalking? On one of the most beautiful days of the year!
Man are we car-centric around here.
Hey Sean – as soon as I finish pack training my llama to haul my weekly groceries and buckets of kitty litter, I’ll stop being car-centric.
Let me expand a little, if I may.
According to Greg’s reporting, there were lots of drivers in cars and people on foot wishing to use the same public resource: the streets in the village centers. Due to the design of those streets and the nature of our laws, the people in their cars take precedence and the people on foot are “jaywalking.”
But, is that the way it should be?
As a matter of fact (if not law), the streets in the village centers are shared space — shared among people driving or being driven in cars, people on foot, and to a much lesser degree (for now), people on bikes. The vitality of our village centers depends on people on foot. With a couple of exceptions, you cannot transact business except on foot (the efforts of a few drivers in Waban Center notwithstanding). And, it’s probably safe to say that the vast majority of people on foot in a village center are there to patronize a local establishment.
Car traffic on the other hand, is a very mixed affair. Yes, many people start in a car to get to a village center and then transform to people on foot who patronize establishments. But, the vast majority of traffic through any village center is just that: through traffic. And, the presence of cars — the overwhelming presence — and their precedence diminishes the quality of the experience of the village centers.
Given those givens, people on foot ought to take precedence. Short of banning car traffic altogether, we should recognize the value of foot traffic and make it possible to cross conveniently. We ought to require that drivers proceed at a crawl through village centers, with the constant expectation that people on foot are going to use the shared space.
Greg thought he was being funny illustrating this post with a picture of zombies. But, let’s take the decision seriously. Who’s really showing more life? Greg in his car or the jaywalker on foot? Who’s contributing more to preventing our village centers from dying?
I’ve been thinking about getting this bike to do my errands, but my problem is that I don’t have a place to put it when I’m NOT riding it. I don’t think it’ll fit in my shed.
http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/bik/2949334781.html
No Llama needed.
Chuck, problem solved: http://boston.craigslist.org/sob/for/2958850471.html
Lisa rejoins:
There’s a world of difference between car-centric and car-exclusive.
Most people need their cars, they just don’t need to use them quite as much as they do. Nor, do they need to have our built environment cater quite so much to drivers in cars.
I think, however, that you are underselling the llama potential. While there are few of us in Newton who have demand for the services of a full-time llama, maybe there’s an opportunity for llama sharing. ZipLlama. If I give it a go, care to invest?
Where do you shop for groceries? Maybe the store will set aside a parking space or two for llama grazing.
Really, this post offers so much in just a few sentences. A man in a car writes (presumably when he’s no longer driving):
If you don’t cherish the deep and abiding irony here …
Sean – for all you know, Greg had good reason to need to use his car for his errands. And there are those of use who, for medical reasons, need to use our cars much more than we’d have wanted to in the past. Be that as it may, there’s no reason both pedestrians and drivers can’t be considerate and safe. The problem with jaywalking is safety for the pedestrians – many don’t realize how hard it can be to see them in time.
Speaking of pet peeves … then there’s that word jaywalking. We’ve got “gerrymandered”, “jerry-rigged”, and “jaywalking” … I don’t like it one little bit.
BTW, here’s a much cheaper alternative and it does double duty with human cargo.
I don’t disagree with Sean’s contention that pedestrians should take priority in our village centers (and if I had found a photo that included zombie drivers that wasn’t protected I could have used that as well.
My point really wasn’t pedestrians are bad, road warriors are good. It was just an observation that an unusually large number of individuals seemed to be stepping in front of moving vehicles yesterday. (And yes I was fairly rattled when a mom and two kids crossing Walnut on their way to yoga, walked behind my car, into my blind spot, as I was parallel parking.)
Yes, we can argue about who needs to be more careful: walkers or drivers. But at the end of the day, if something bad happens, the walkers probably suffer more.
Yes, Sean, it would have been a nice day to walk or bike on my errands but as mgwa points out you have no idea what my circumstances were. I won’t bore everyone with the details, but suffice to say, one errand required me to get to the only post office in Newton that was still open at the hour I needed to go. I could have accomplished a second errand via Amazon, but being a guy who also cares about the vitality of our villages I decided to give my money to a mom and pop merchant instead.
Plus did you know that the only camelid vets in Massachusetts are in Hoyloke, Westford and Norwell?
When my alternative transportation has a tummy ache how am I going to it to the vet w/o a vehicle?
It’s another beautiful day today. I think I’ll drive out to the Berkshire’s. Someone told me that there’s a lovely 1/4 mile walk out there that I should see.
@Sean, I too share several of your views. I agree that when we drive through thickly settled areas we should (and I do) proceed with caution and great care. I believe that drivers should have an affirmative duty to slow down as they approach pedestrian crosswalks and actually look to see if there is someone waiting at the curb, as opposed to slamming on your brakes as the pedestrian ventures an intrepid foot into the cross walk. Beefed up police enforcement – I’m with you all the way. Huge fines and a surcharge on your insurance for failure to stop for a pedestrian – I’d back that too. One of the worst experiences of my entire life happened in a charming little village in Maine – we stopped for a Mom and her two kids on a one way street with two lanes – the Mom and her kids darted across the street when we stopped for them, but unfortunately the driver in the second lane wasn’t so attentive and hit two of them. I haven’t decided whether that memory is worse than my memory of being in a car accident caused by a drunk driver when I was a kid. My point being I know all too well the dangers posed by cars, but I also know when I need to use my car. I’m in no position to determine whether someone else needs to use their car and I don’t think anyone is in a position to judge whether I need to use mine.
As for Llamas, I think I can get you a good deal on some barely used pack gear and I can even point you in the direction of a good llama dealership. No kidding. Of course – you do need to know that they really do spit and it’s nasty.
I am in no position to judge whether or not someone else is
This blog needs a “preview” button. 🙂
For what it’s worth, there are a few places around the City where crosswalk design is so poor that pedestrians can’t be seen by car traffic even when they are trying to cross properly (eg Walnut st in Newtonville, Beacon st in both Waban and in Newton Centre).
While I am an unabashed motorist, I also spend a good amount of time as an ambulatory biped and cyclist. In the absence of other measures, there are curb and other design tools the City can use to improve visibility for cars and pedestrians alike. Items like curb bump outs both steer pedestrians to a safe crossing and also allow drivers to see them when they’re attempting to cross (and making it less easy to explain if they fail to yield).
As for llamas, you’re on your own.