How you cross the street in Dorchester
By adamg - Sun, 11/23/2008 - 11:09pm.
Like a complete moron, apparently:
... Suddenly we noticed that we were across the street from our destination and we had to cross Dorchester Ave. I caught up to the others, who were waiting for an opening in the traffic. But Junior walked out in front of us and shouted:
"YOU IN DORCHESTER! THIS IS HOW YOU CROSS THE STREET IN DORCHESTER!"
And then he broke from the group and walked right into the rear side panel of a speeding, green, 2-door Civic. His knee made a grotesque pop! as it struck the car. It sounded like a two-liter bottle of soda hitting the pavement after a long fall. ...
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there is justice
There are too many slow strolling jaywalkers in Dorchester. It seems to be some kind of dare/defiance thing. Strolling across the road without any heed to oncoming traffic, that's not a good Darwinian strategy.
Honestly, I wish it were
Honestly, I wish it were legal to just hit them. If you walk out in front of my car without paying any attention to your surroundings and without any regard whatsoever for your safety or that of anyone else, then you should have no right to complain when I either teach you a lesson you'll never forget or remove your inferior DNA from the gene pool.
It isn't just Dorchester
It seems that this goes on anywhere there is some sort of high density low income assemblage ... and it really doesn't matter who lives there IMHO. People wade into traffic and stare at you. Half dare, half don't care.
Every hear of Seymour Pappert? He did this whole body of writing about the way people cross streets in countries - mostly South Asian countries - by wading into traffic. Apparently, when the traffic mix is largely motorbikes, you can get away with this human frogger act because they can divert around you if you are plodding into traffic at predictable speed.
Unfortunately, Pappert was practicing this street crossing technique when he encountered a motorcyclist who hadn't read his scholarly work. He was airlifted to MGH from Hanoi, and he's only partially recovered from the head injuries.
W. Roxbury too
A few kids crossed that way in front of my car the other day in front of W. Roxbury High, crossing the Parkway. They seem to deliberately walk slowly as they cross the street. Must not be cool to use the cross walk & pedestrian light that's a few feet away.
I don't drive, yet I notice
I don't drive, yet I notice behavior like this. Perhaps defiant, perhaps strutting, perhaps acting-out. I think they're usually quite aware that they're doing it.
There is a similar behavior, such as when crossing in a cluster, in which they often seem indifferent or preoccupied with the group, rather than strutting.
From the little I've seen, both behaviors are far from universal among people in, say, a particular housing project. It's just a minority of them, doing their own self-destructive form of PR outreach on behalf of the coarsely identifiable group. :) I imagine it might be different in other parts of town.
It's everywhere
and it is mostly rude punk kids. But since they're being raised by single mothers who are only 16 years older than them they don't get taught manners. When they finally start driving they'll see how annoying it is. MA is too liberal, other states have decent fines for jaywalking. Here, it's not worth the cop's time to write them up (I think it's only $1 or $2).
I try the scared straight approach
I just keep rolling at them if they jaywalk. They usually move out of my way.
Similarly
I keep them from jaywalking in the first place if I know the light is about to change and I see them heading off the curb. A quick rev of the engine and a slight jut into the crosswalk usually keeps all but the most brazen asses on the sidewalk.
In a game of chicken,
In a game of chicken, drivers can't have the moral high ground.
Pappert? Been there, done that, it's not the same
I've done the wade into traffic thing in Asia, Africa and Italy. In those places, it's the only way to cross many streets because of high traffic flow and poor traffic design - no lights, no cops, no crosswalks, no over/under passes. You walk into traffic and weave a little and time your movements. It sucks, but it is the only way you can do it and it's recognized as such by drivers, who will slow.
What we are talking about here is different - it's lack of manners and low-grade thuggery. There are lights, crosswalks and manageable traffic flows in Dorchester. No reason to walk into traffic.