I needed to make a left turn last night at a light-controlled intersection. When the light turned green, I saw two women on the near street corner on my left starting to cross to the far left street corner so I waited for them to get there. One woman was leading a rather large dog on a leash while the other was pushing a baby stroller. Altogether, they were quite visible.
As the two women made their way across, as they were passing the midpoint of their crossing, the driver behind me began leaning on the horn. Perhaps that driver was in an urgent hurry and was therefore urging that I run the two women over.
That was bad enough, but worse was to come.
As the two women successfully and safely accomplished their crossing, I started to roll forward for my left turn. After I had gotten forward a few feet, a third woman suddenly bolted from that far left street corner and ran right in front of my car.
I slammed on the brake and she did not get hurt. The horn blower behind me was somehow long gone, but if that person had been turning left too, I would likely have been rear-ended.
The horn blower acted badly enough, but that third woman's behavior could reasonably have been viewed as an attempted suicide. She looked in my direction with an uninterpretable facial expression and then kept running.
I have been noticing of late, and for quite some time now, news items about pedestrian fatalities on automobile roadways, usually ascribed to speeding and reckless drivers. I imagine most of that attribution to be correct.
This incident last night casts another light on such matters though.
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