Pedestrians Need to Step Up Vigilance, Too

Editor:

Dani Traci said, “I just saw a big flash of white, it was a white truck that hit me”. (I can’t help picturing someone talking about alien abduction). Unless the truck materialized out of thin air just prior to hitting her, the injuries she sustained could have easily been prevented by her.

Did she even spend one second sizing up the intersection and evaluating the danger of Coast Highway? Anybody watching Coast Highway traffic for a few minutes knows it’s dangerous. Did she consider other options to cross, like a controlled intersection one street away? In NYC, you have to walk a full city block before you can cross the street. Jaywalking is strictly enforced (note to LBPD: that means “silly” ordinances are actually acted upon). Ask any tourist who has jaywalked there.

Our society foolishly advances the idea of pedestrian right-of-way, which results in countless unnecessary injuries and fatalities. Telling pedestrians they have the right-of-way is like telling your children it’s okay to walk through a dangerous neighborhood because kidnapping is illegal. This false sense of security often leads people to make poor choices.

So, telling pedestrians that the laws of physics don’t apply to them is plain stupid. Nonetheless, heads remain resolutely buried in the sand (and elsewhere). “We need more lights, fines, bells, and whistles. That’ll do it”. Look how well the countless other city ordinances are working. Nobody uses leaf blowers, smokes or lets their dogs off leash on the beach, and certainly it’s been years since someone has disrupted our tide pools.

Now, while I don’t want to be judgmental, statistically speaking, Ms. Traci was probably distracted by her phone. (Ohio State study states, “people 16 to 25 years of age were most likely to be injured as distracted pedestrians”).

So, until we are willing to live in the realm of reality and not only take personal responsibility ourselves, but expect others to as well, then we will probably see more white trucks appear out of nowhere and strike unsuspecting pedestrians.

P.S. Looks like we need to make white trucks illegal, but that’s for another election.

Michael Rybah, Laguna Beach