seattle pedestrians
Yesterday, I was walking my dogs. I have to do this twice
a day. It is a dog requirement. So, I am walking my dogs, taking my usual
route, when a man on the corner -- dressed relatively well, you assume
from his appearance he has a job of some sort, the suit, the tie, the
briefcase, it all screams corporate upper echelon to me -- hits a car.
This is a pedestrian. And he just hit a car. Walked straight into it.
Against the light, too. I guess he didn't notice the red light or a two
ton automobile in his path. So there he went, straight into the car. Bam!
I've got to tell you, I've traveled around a bit, and Seattle is the only
city I've ever seen where pedestrians hit cars. In most cities, it is
the other way around. Cars hit pedestrians. Pedestrians know this, and
watch for cars in other cities. But not in Seattle. And this was not an
anomoly. I've seen pedestrians hit cars on several occassions here in
Seattle. This is pretty startling to me, this whole pedestrians hitting
cars phenom. But more startling than that?
After walking straight into what I guess must be invisible cars, Seattle
pedestrians turn on the drivers.
The last time I saw a pedestrian menace an automobile -- okay, the last
time I saw a pedestrian menace an automobile before my fateful move to
Seattle -- I was at the San Francisco Greyhound Bus Depot and the pedestrian
was obviously homeless and crazed on crack cocaine.
Now I'm in Seattle, where not only do well dressed, obviously employed
with homes and not on drugs (I think) people walk into cars, they menace
them. Regularly. The other day at Pike Street Market I saw what looked
like your typical housewife turn and advance on a driver. The woman had
been walking down the middle of the street. The driver was idling, waiting
for her to move. She wasn't going to move. She was going to claim her
lane. She did, too. Menacing a car in a pose I last saw in a film on chimp
territoriality.
And this man who I changed routes to avoid? (Most cosmopolitan cities
I've been in, anyone behaving that badly in public is in danger of getting
shot at and I am allergic to bullets so I try to avoid these situations.)
This man who crossed on a red light and walked, head on, into a stationary
automobile? After he hit the car, he followed it. The driver couldn't
go anywhere, he was cut off by bad traffic and pedestrians crossing against
red lights. (Does anyone in Seattle understand the concept of red lights?
I guess just the drivers.) So there was the poor driver. Trapped in his
car with nowhere to go and a red faced maniac following him, punching
his car and screaming hard enought to spray spittle on the car's windows.
And you know what the guy was screaming?
"Watch where you're going."
*originally
published on NiteTime.net
