Sometimes when I’m driving home I feel like one of the vehicles involved unwittingly in a game of Frogger. I wonder if the cars in the classic arcade game were theoretically able to see the pedestrian frog?
There is one particular stretch of road just outside my office – at the bottom of Flinders Street – that is particularly bad. Flinders Street is dotted with gazetted pedestrian crossings – and yet they are widely ignored. Pedestrians cross without paying any heed to oncoming traffic.
What really gets me isn’t the jaywalking. It’s the pre-emptive pedestrians – the ones who start stepping onto the road as you approach in your car.
Defensive driving means assuming that every other road user is an idiot. I operate under that principle. Whenever I see a pedestrian start their perambulations I hesitate – like a rabbit in the headlights – only I’m driving. I’m the one posing the threat.
The thought of pedestrians blindly wandering in front of my pristine purple excel fills me with dread. A pedestrian would no doubt do more damage to my car than a kangaroo…
So, next time you start crossing the road as a car approaches – even if you are completely aware the car is approaching – stop, and think of the children.
Comments
Is your office at that part of Flinders St with NO PEDESTRIAN CROSSING AT ALL, with most of the parking on the other side of the street?
We’re on The Strand – right at the intersection onto Flinders Street (where the Museum and Reef HQ are) – but the people I’m annoyed at were crossing at the roundabout at the bottom of the nightclub part of Flinders Street.
Flinders Street East, not the Strand.
That’s where I thought your office was. I will even attempt a reverse parallel park when we go to the aquarium if I can get one.