Walking, Jay Style
I am thinking that somebody is giving the Waikiki tourists the wrong information. They seem to think the streets are for standing in and walking down the middle of. I am certain somebody has told them it is illegal to run over them. I am not so certain that they comprehend that illegal doesn’t mean impossible. Somebody needs to clue them in.
Yesterday I stopped and waited even though I had the right away and there was no crosswalk in sight. I waited because I knew the guy striding purposely toward the curb was about to step off said curb and into traffic directly in front of my car.  There was a bus parked to my right and the guy behind me could not see the sidewalk. All he could see was me stopped in the middle of the street for no apparent reason. He shot out and around me, then slammed on his breaks, putting his car on its front bumper and missing the jaywalker by a mere millimeter –yet the kid didn’t even look up from text messaging. I don’t think he had any clue how close he came to being road jam.
Just another day in Wackiki.
21 Comments
That’s just about anywhere really. Driving around all day makes you realize just how stupid some people are.
I bet the kid thought if he got hit he’d just get a big pay day. Getting killed near occurred to him.
People get hit all of the time walking in the street around here.
I get so angry when I see parents teaching their children to cross against a red walking light.
Yes… worst rule ever made … Pedestrian has the right of way! It was alright back in the day when Pedestrians had a little common sense. But not no more…
are you saying tourists should actually watch the traffic? what kind of paradise is that, then?
Now add driving a City Transit Bus weighing anywhere from 20 Tons up to over 35 tons. And this is empty.
They do it all the time here, or another thing they do is stand at the very edge of the curb and then give you a dirty look like it is your fault if they get hit.
Common Sense died years ago Melli, you remember when we were kids and that little voice said this is not correct.
Bill, don’t know about you, but the voice in my head wasn’t little. Except when she threw me in the icebox for three weeks because I had transgressed.
Then came Vietnam, and the total discrediting of “anybody over thirty”. Is it any wonder that the offspring of that generation have no sense? Not that their progenitors are paying attention; they’ve never paid attention to anything but themselves and aren’t about to start now.
Of course, the same things were true of young people and their elders in early 1929 …
Ah ha…so it was you I saw in Waikiki. &^%$&^%#^%$@^@#@#$ is all I saw coming out of the car ROFLMAO!!!
Let’s see, birds can bring down a plane, a texting mom can tie up traffic and a pedestrian listening to his ipod never hears the brakes squeal. And so it goes…
If it is common, it must be adaptive.
It would appear the tourists come and get a little too laid back in paradise.
It’s those darn cell phones. I think they are a terrorist weapon designed to get us to destroy ourselves.
That young person was so lucky or has a great guardian angel. We had a Woman in a wheel chair killed as she crossed the road. The driver did not see her because of the sun in his eyes.
I’ll be the first one to admit it, I’ve got no problem walking out into traffic. BUT, let me explain. The people in my neighborhood do not deserve drivers licenses. Every one of them sitting in their massive SUV’s, creating 4-5 lanes out of two, going well over the speed limit, and jockeying for the next available spot so their darling little spawn doesn’t have to walk more than three feet to the door. And the crosswalk is right by the turn for where they drop their kids off.
Given that this is an elementary school and some kid is going to get killed one of these days because some idiot has never heard that pedestrians have the right of way and school crosswalks trump EVERYTHING else, I’m not backing down. I have had someone inch forward, threatening to run me over. I turned my umbrella towards their car and made it very clear that I would be happy to shove it in their radiator for them. ‘Cause if some jerk is going to try and run me over in their Escalade, they’d better know I’m damn good at faking an injury.
Now, I know this isn’t exactly the same thing. I don’t walk with a cell phone because it takes away from the dirty looks I can give them. And if I was downtown- forget it. But in a school crosswalk, yeah, I’m walking. And I don’t care who’s coming at me.
The abundance of clueless people never ceases to amaze me.
Silver — i agree.
Nessa — perhaps the parents have a large insurance policy on the child ….
Melli — and when drivers weren’t in such a danged awful hurry they wer willing to wait. Even I realize it isn’t ALL the pedestrian’s fault.
Juliana — couldn’t care less whether or not the poedestrians watched the traffic. I just wish they’d ignore the traffic from the sidewalks and the crosswalks and stay out of the middle of the street!
Bill — yeah,, I get that edge of the curb thing here, too. Someday one of them will lose a body part to a side view mirror.
Amoeba — the voice in your head is your mother? Oh boy. I think I’m glad I didn’t have one of those! (Mothers the voice is there. It sounds a lot like my sister, Caryl).
Thom — very likely.
Jill — all poster children for what happens when one fails to pay attention.
Doug — learned stupidity. Cool. I want some.
Carletta — yes, and some of them get laid out.
Dr. John — likely true.
Betty — I thought I saw God’s hand scootch the kid over just a bit as that car skidded to a stop.
Lisa — I have no problem stopping for pedestrians in crosswalks. I expect to find them there. I have a big problem with folks who just step off the curb in the middle of the street while traffic is flowing.
Jeff — the gene pool needs more chlorine.
Ever read Gridlock by Ben Elton? One of the main characters was rendered paraplegic right at the start of the book by a driver that did exactly what this driver did. The character in the book, however, was crossing at a designated crossing and had to stop to pick up her books which had been scattered.
I hate to be negative, yet I do like to be honest… so here I go. I think this new generation is even stupider than the last, and they are pretty bad. The gene pool is getting very shallow. Scary.
A cell phone and an Ipod.
Deadly.
Not just in Hawaii do people think that the right of way means them in their wheel-less condition! Most of our pedestrians who are hit by cars, trucks motorbikes and even mopeds, are found at fault…unfortunately most are in no condition to accept the summons that is “summarily” issued!
Congrats on Post of the Day mention!
Sandi
Comments are closed.