Earlier this week, I read in the Flat Hat that the local police would be cracking down on cars that fail to yield to pedestrians in the crosswalks. Specifically, crosswalks located along Jamestown Road and Richmond Road, which is right next to campus. Sure enough, as I’m driving towards the Rec Center, I see a cop car failing miserably at hiding itself among the other parallel-parked cars on Richmond. It’s tough to disguise a blue and white Dodge Charger with lightbar.
Signs were installed at the crosswalks around campus a few years ago commanding drivers to yield. Now that pedestrians legally have the right-of-way, they believe it’s safe to boldy march out into the street regardless of any oncoming traffic. Doing this anywhere else would be surefire suicide: when I was in New York City a few years ago with some teammates, they would try to cross the street regardless of the pedestrian traffic signals. I had to hold back one of my teammates by the jacket at nearly every intersection to keep him from getting flattened by oncoming taxis. At home in the suburban sprawl of Virginia Beach, pedestrians are unheard of, so when running I assume nobody is watching me as I come to an intersection. In Williamsburg, I guess nobody cares about Newton’s laws.
Before the yield signs were installed a few years ago, only a small handful of students would step in front of traffic at a crosswalk since most rational thinkers didn’t want to risk getting hit. Now, everyone crosses without caring about the traffic. The worst are the crosswalks in front of the sororities: gobs of sorority girls march right out in front of me every time I go by, cell phones clamped to their ears and not even looking for cars. Yesterday, walking home from the office, I came to a crosswalk and was going to wait for the traffic to pass. Instead, some guys came up behind me and continued into the intersection, causing everyone to jam on the brakes. In Williamsburg, stepping out into traffic is followed with the quintessential wrist flick/hand wave at the nearby cars, which serves as some kind of apology for any driver heart attacks.
The logic behind the signs was to give crossing pedestrians an extra margin of safety by telling the cars to stop. After a few incidents, the city put the signs in. I can understand this, but it creates an externality: most pedestrians (students) now think they are invincible and that all cars will stop. What about people from out of town not familiar with the hard to see yield signs? What about at night? Even paying close attention as I drive, it’s hard to predict when someone will suddenly pivot along the sidewalk and rush out into the street in front of me. The signs would work well if pedestrians still yielded to traffic at the crosswalks and waited for any nearby cars to stop and let them go. Unfortunately, that isn’t what happens.
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