In article >,
(John F. Carr) says:

>I was walking with a group of people in Columbus recently. We came
>to an unsignalized crosswalk. I waited for a gap in traffic and
>started to cross. Halfway across I noticed that the others were not
>following me. My definition of a gap follows the law -- you can't
>jump close in front of a vehicle but you can make distant vehicles
>slow down. Their definition of a gap in traffic assumed vehicles
>do not yield to pedestrians, i.e. it ignored the legal effect of
>the crosswalk.

Yabbut what *I* meant was how peds in the East do the "crossing
dance" with cars- go out into a clear traffic lane (the cars keep
moving around you), stand there, wait for cars to empty the lane(s)
you want to be in, stand in that one, lather rinse, repeat until
you're across the street. Did that for some 30 years and never got
hit (and this is with an imaginary pedestrian "point system" in
place that car drivers assign to various groups of pedestrians).

Now, I'm in California, and not only am I supposed to come to a
screeching halt just 'cause some damn ped points his toe off the
sidewalk, but when I'm a ped and cross the street (and I tend to
do it "East-Coast Style"; the damn crosswalks in many cases are
too far away) and I'm standing on a curb or median or something
I end up turning my back on traffic 'till it's cleared a bit so
some dude won't bung up the traffic flow to let one damn ped
cross the street.

-Kenny

--
Kenneth R. Crudup Sr. SW Engineer, Scott County Consulting, Los Angeles
H: 3630 S. Sepulveda Blvd. #138, L.A., CA 90034-6809 (310) 391-1898