Editor,
After a brief spate of complaints, the voices have stopped, silenced again by an impermeable, faceless, and immovable bureaucracy.
The crosswalk light at LCAD has irrevocably changed our lives for the worse. Thousands of commuters are trapped and waste valuable time (and emit tons more CO2) stopping at a light that is too long and can be triggered far too frequently. I have counted 35-50 cars backed up because of a single triggering of the light. The backup is exponential when the button is pushed several times in succession.
And why are we suffering this?
Because an inattentive pedestrian got hit in a crosswalk at night. Seriously.
I mean really, does it even make sense?
As I said before, it’s too bad she was killed, but seriously, at night, all considerations of “right of way” are off and you are on your own. Nobody has mentioned whether or not she was texting, but it’s likely given her age. I expect several more texting-pedestrian fatalities in the upcoming decade where the walker will be found at fault.
Therefore, I propose red-light-controlled crosswalks at every street corner on Coast Highway.
Would anyone complain about that? Why aren’t voices being raised against the injustice on the canyon road?
Michael Rybah, Laguna Beach
I’ve encountered many pedestrians texting and not paying attention to their surroundings. Unfortunately, this does not apply only to the young college students. So many times while in the parking lots at Ralphs or Vons, there are women (mostly) who walk in the middle of the lot while viewing their phones. Why the injustice on the canyon road? Historically, the opinions of those residents living in the canyon matter.