Chicago winter hazards !

[Kb4iuj]

Just came across this last night about Chicago crosswalks. Hence, lookout for lousy drivers and pay attention - where ever your at.

Edited December 1, 2015 by Kb4iuj

[kvp]

One basic rule i tend to follow: Never step in the possible paths of an approaching car regardless of the traffic signals. Cars have to stand still or move away from my path. Also i try to stay on the sidewalk in a location that is less likey to get hit if a car runs up the curb. This means if everything is moving away i might go across diagonally with all pedestrian lights in the red, but nothing could hit me in that case, but i usually stay on the sidewalk when i have the right of way but cars are approaching, because one of the drivers might think differently.

 

When i was in highschool, i had a near miss with two cars standing at the crossing when the pedestrian light went green. My thoughts wandered off and i didn't see the green first, but when i did see it and was just starting to move, a car hit the back of the car standing in front of me and threw it across the crossing, slamming it into the back of a bus standing at a stop a few meters away. If i stepped off the sidewalk when the lights went green, i would have ended up crushed between the first car and the back of the bus or under the car. Since that time, i always wait for all the cars to pile up and stop before crossing before them.

 

The professor in the article was probably expecting the nicer driving habits of Japan, like drivers actually looking where they are going or actually stopping when they see a pedestrian on the road. This doesn't alway happen in Japan either, but the chances are somewhat higher.

 

This is also a good way to avoid getting hit by a train too, especially when someone is trying to walk across the tracks where there is no crossing around. Just let everything go and wait until nothing is approaching from any direction and you can visually confirm this. Also try to stay out of the loading gauge of the tracks when standing near them, regardless of having an actual train on them or not.

 

ps: just my 2 cents...

[ozman2009]

Just came across this last night about Chicago crosswalks. Hence, lookout for lousy drivers and pay attention - where ever your at.

 

*Gulp* I was in Chicago only a few weeks ago  :-o

 

I suppose the same sort of thing could happen almost anywhere.

[cteno4]

Yep, especially as our culture gets more frantic paced and you get folks thinking they are more important than you (very common here in DC). Around here pedestrians are treated as nuisances and bicyclists have targets painted on them.

 

Very sad.

 

In the 90s I was living in Georgetown (DC neighborhood full of folks who fancy themselves 'important') and I did not have a car so walked everywhere. Every few days I would have this same thing happen to me with a right turn thru a crosswalk, seriously. Luckily I was never really nailed but very close a few times. I started kicking the sides of cars who would do the right turn in my path. Folks would stop irate and I would just start walking over to them, I'm 196cm and usually wear a western hat and that would usually freak them out without saying a word and they would jump back in their car and drive off in a hurry.

 

Also ended up sitting on a car hood. It came at me and I probably could have jumped back but instead did the tv roll onto the hood as I did not thing going to the ground wise at that point. I actually dented the hood a bit and the driver was irate, saying I stepped out in front of them. I said fine I'm happy with calling the police so they might cite me and you can try to make me pay for this, of course they may cite you instead for hitting a pedestrian in a cross walk... There was lots of hurried hemming and hawing and I thought of putting on a big drama of my leg giving way and call an ambulance, but I figured the dent in the hood was enough.

 

I'm old and much more cautious now!

 

Jeff

[Steve4031]

We hate bicyclist more.

[Kabutoni]

We hate bicyclist more.

 

Is that something to have pride in?

[ozman2009]

We hate bicyclist more.

 

Where is "we" anyway?

[Steve4031]

Chicago