Yesterday I had a doctor’s appointment. On the way to the appointment I drove up a street where there is an Elementary school on one side and a middle school on the other. It was school zone time and so everyone was going slow. I noticed looking on the other side of the street there was a teenage boy surrounded by several people, holding his arm and sitting in the road. The other people had him lie down and were directing traffic around him. The boy was obviously hurt and had been hit by a car.
The fact that it happened was so sad it made my heart hurt, yet at the same time I am somewhat angry. Why? Because not more than 50 feet from where the boy was lying in the road is the cross walk with a crossing guard.
After my doctors appointment I headed back home and pulled up to a very busy intersection. There, a man with two small children crossed in-between cars pulling one of them along with him while another child that looked to be about 6 or 7 years old tried to keep up. Again, the crosswalk was no more than 40 ft away.
Now perhaps I am old fashioned, but I am just dumbfounded at the behavior of adults. Seriously, I have seen no less than five accidents where someone was actually hit by a car, one of which I have often wondered if they lived through the ordeal. I have watched in horror as adults who are parents and I am SURE claim wholeheartedly that they love their children, walk off and let the child trot behind through traffic or don’t watch them in parking lots! May I just say, WHY? Did you not have a parent or teacher explain why crosswalks were designed? Do you not believe the studies done, or the extra cost to put them in and (by schools) to have someone there to stop traffic is necessary? Do you think that you are somehow car proof? Or perhaps you are a rebel that doesn’t want to obey any rules. Are you really so lazy that you can’t walk that extra 20-50ft to the crosswalk? Are you really in such a hurry? Will you still be in a hurry the day the car hits you and you change your life, the people in the cars life, and the lives of any onlookers because of your blatant lack of responsibility? Will you blame the car that backs over your child in the parking lot because you weren’t holding their hand and they couldn’t see them?
So many accidents could be prevented if we just follow the rules that others put in place to protect us.
Cherry Coley (c)
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