🚀 go-pugleaf

Ytterbie Bannerjee <usenet@astrogoth.com> wrote in message news:<ud6lycck3.fsf@astrogoth.com>...
> >>>>> "Nathan" == Nathan Nagel <njnagel@earthlink.net> writes:
> 
>     Nathan> To the OP: I agree with you but keep in mind that in the
>     Nathan> DC area there are several areas where you will probably be
>     Nathan> found at fault should you hit a pedestrian, no matter how
>     Nathan> arrogant they are.  Annapolis and Bethesda jump to mind,
>     Nathan> as they have mid-block crosswalks everywhere.
>     Nathan> Fortunately, the pedestrians in Annapolis still display
>     Nathan> some common sense (can't say the same for Bethesda.)
> 
> If there's a crosswalk, it's your duty as a driver to watch out for
> pedestrians.  If you can't do that, with huge painted lines on the
> roadway, you're an incompetent driver and a hazard who doesn't have
> control of a potentially lethal implement.
> 
> Crosswalks are big indicators that maybe, just maybe, people might be
> crossing the street there.  Guess what -- it's legal and acceptable to
> cross the street in a crosswalk.
> 
> It's the pedestrian's job to use common sense, but it is your job as a
> driver to watch out for them, and to yield to them when they cross the
> street.
> 
> cheers.


Wow, that's an old post that you're responding to... but anyway... my
annoyance at the pedestrians in those areas stems not from the fact
that they desire to cross the street (perfectly understandable) but
from the tendency of said pedestrians to completely bring all traffic
to a continuous halt.  In other words, it is literally faster to walk
in some areas rather than drive!  If you follow the letter of the law
and yield to all pedestrians in the crosswalk you may very well end up
sitting still for 15 minutes at the same spot.  And yet public
transportation sucks... so if you don't live there, better to just
avoid the area altogether.  Also they will step right out in front of
you without even looking, regardless of the fact that you're mere feet
away from the crosswalk and there's a half block with no traffic
immediately behind you...  god forbid they'd wait .5 seconds, they'd
rather waste half a minute of your time.

I haven't been in Bethesda in two years or more, and I don't miss it
at all.

nate