We are angels behind the wheel compared to the rabble in Providence
By adamg - 10/30/10 - 9:44 am
Truthspew notes a Providence city councilor was critically injured by a hit-and-run driver while he was walking in a crosswalk, contrasts drivers there with up here:
MA drivers on the other hand ALWAYS stop for people in crosswalks. I think it's to do with MA law, and how MA marks its crosswalks VERY well. You can't miss 'em.
Comments
Yeah right. Some random
Yeah right. Some random weekday, try crossing Mem Dr here between JFK St and the Eliot Bridge, maybe around 5pm. See how many cars fly by instead of stopping, while averting their gaze and pretending not to see you.
Wow
Guess they're pretty polite on Mem Drive. Try Mass. Ave in the South End, or Tremont Street - where drivers will at least slow down and acknowledge you, and growl or flip you the bird for being in their way.
Nice enough folks in Providence, but they should get out more.
The problem with mass Ave &
The problem with mass Ave & tremont or mass Ave & Washington is ENTIRELY the pedestrians. Have you seen how people just wander onto the road without a walk sign while cars have a green light?! Or they cross half the road and then stand there with traffic going by on both sides of them? Insane. I'm 100% behind giving out tickets to these moron pedestrians. They put themselves at risk and the drivers who of course would end up behind bars if they don't find a way to swerve around these idiots. And I speak as both a driver and pedestrian of that area.
Welcome to the city. Slow
Welcome to the city. Slow down.
A good way to get somebody killed
If you stop at a crosswalk on a four-lane road, the other drivers are going to swerve around you even faster, and they won't be able to see the walker coming from behind your stopped car.
Standing on the curb at that
Standing on the curb at that crosswalk, I have a clear line of sight to drivers in all four lanes for at least a hundred yards in both directions. A slow deceleration approaching that crosswalk is not going to get anyone killed.
I guess it's too much to ask that drivers pay attention to what they are doing and adhere to traffic laws.
always?
Would this fellow care to wager?
My only experience
My only experience has been in and around Boston, particularly the areas around South Station and Back Bay Station.
But I note a good number of you MA residents work or play here in Providence and I take note of the state on the registration plates. Every time someone stops for someone in a crosswalk the car has MA plates on it. Every time.
Was even in Boston today. The drivers are fairly polite.
I chalk it up to the following:
In Boston you can predict the behavior of the drivers. In Providence you cannot predict the behavior of drivers.