Keep an eye on those cars

The Washington Street Committee has been talking a lot recently about sidewalks and how to make the town safer for pedestrians. At the most recent meeting, I heard a suggestion to purchase mobile reflective signs that could be put around the square, or perhaps at other streets, to warn vehicles about heavy pedestrian traffic. The discussions I?ve heard have got me thinking about all the places I?ve walked to in my life.

My parents were lucky enough to find a house right in the middle of our little town of Pocahontas. The town?s main street was less than half a block away, so everything downtown was within walking distance, including both of my parents? places of employment. The movie theater, swimming pool, tennis courts, basketball courts, city park and ball diamonds were just a couple of blocks down the street, so we walked there, too.

We lived on one of the busiest streets in town, although considering that Pocahontas? population is under 2,000 that isn?t saying very much. I know that parents often prohibit their kids from crossing the street until they reach a certain age, but I have no memory of any such prohibition in our family. I do remember being worried when I saw that our cat had crossed the street.

?Does Tiger know she has to look both ways?? I wondered.

I noticed an interesting phenomenon when I went to college, and that was to see pedestrians walk right in the path of moving vehicles. I couldn?t believe it. It was as if the students were daring the cars to hit them. In campus towns, pedestrians rule, and Ames was no exception. I know that the law says vehicles must yield to pedestrians, but it was surprising to see my fellow students enter the street with such reckless abandon.

One of the jokes on campus was that you could easily spot the freshmen because they hurried to cross the street when a car approached. The upper-classmen knew better, apparently. I visited Ames a few weeks ago and walked around the campus with my sister, who had learned to pay little attention to the vehicles in her midst.

When I was at Iowa State, a student died on campus when he walked out from between two parked cars and into the path of a bus. I hope that the student body learned something from that tragedy about the importance of watching out for cars, even in campus town.

I have heard several reports in recent years that not only is it dangerous to use a cell phone while driving, but also to use it while walking. Ohio State University reported that 1,000 pedestrians visited emergency rooms in 2008 due to injuries sustained while using a cell phone. The university reported that that figure was double the number from 2007, which was nearly twice that of 2006.

As local government debates how to make life more convenient for pedestrians, let?s remember that there are things we residents can do to reduce accidents in the crosswalk.