Letters: Whatever happened to pedestrians who actually followed safety rules?

I AM A DRIVER who has an issue with pedestrians being outright rude when crossing the street.

I understand that people have the right to cross the street when the light turns green, but when you see a pedestrian who is clearly taking his time by walking as if he is in the mall, it gets really annoying.

It has gotten to the place where people do not exercise common sense by looking first before they step into the street. When I was a child, my mother always taught me to give the cars the right of way while in the street because streets were made for cars. People are just crossing the street because the light turned green and the ones who are crossing at the intersection of a stop sign are not exempt, either. I experience this every day coming home from work, people walking across while a car is barreling down the street. They have this "I wish you would hit me . . ." attitude. They look at you like you are the one who is not being logical.

I cannot stomach when some parents have this same ignorant attitude with small children, putting them in danger. It is our obligation to take care of our children. It means taking care in how we walk across the street with our children in tow. First of all, you should pick up small children (if you are able) while crossing the street and put them down when you are safely on the sidewalk. It is logical to stop when you see a ton of car coming straight at you. I actually saw this woman with her baby in a stroller in the street while she was safely waiting on the curb trying to cross the street (attempting to jaywalk).

What about ones that are texting and walk right in front of a car? No need to elaborate on that one.

Pedestrians, please be mindful when you are crossing the street because it would be very unfortunate to be maimed, paralyzed or even dead because you feel you have the "right of way."

Funerals have the right to progress through red lights in a procession. The question I pose to you is this: Do you want to exercise your funeral procession rights because you abused your pedestrian rights?

You might want to think about that before you decide to treat the street as if it were a mall.

Chassie Short

Yeadon