When Pedestrians, Motorists Mix

PEDESTRIANS AND DRIVERS usually have an understanding. Neither one wants to intersect the other for fear of death or higher insurance rates, but both are proud and lay fierce claims on their rightful space. So when buffer zones at signal-controlled intersections are violated, reactions can be ugly — or really awkward.

Blog D.C. Sidewalks posted a thoughtful essay on Tuesday about the aggressive and passive-aggressive characteristics of D.C. drivers and their interactions with pedestrians:

A jaywalking pedestrian is met with a vehicle accelerating through the intersection for a close, intimidating pass in order to "teach a lesson." And don't sleep on the fact that the non-aggressive drivers are motivated as much by self-righteousness as much as are the aggressives.

But when you think about it, the dynamic is a two-way street. There are certainly pedestrians take their generous legal right-of-way privileges a little too far at times, tempting an accident by claiming their space in active roadways.

The blogger's overall conclusion, though, is one that we all might need to hear: "... [T]he indignation of self-righteousness provides a satisfying leap back to the top of the hierarchy. Perhaps this is only a sickness endemic to the DC region and its notorious war of attrition between pedestrians and motorists. Or it may be, as I fear, a harbinger of our culture's further descent into decadence."

That would certainly be the case, especially in instances where there's a near-miss at an intersection where both pedestrians and drivers distracted by talking on their cell phones or fiddling with their BlackBerries.

» "Self-Righteous Indignation Is the New Self-Actualization" [D.C. Sidewalk Blog]

Photo by Tracy A. Woodward/The Washington Post

Posted By Michael Grass at 5:40 PM on February 28, 2007 Tagged in Free Ride , Transit

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