Drivers wait behind the crosswalk for people crossing in Jefferson City.

Myth: Pedestrians walk out in front of cars without looking.

I hear this every time someone gets hit while walking across a street. “Those dumb college kids,” is usually how it starts.

I spent several hours watching an intersection over the past couple weeks, helping collect data for the police’s pedestrian safety campaign. Each time a pedestrian entered the crosswalk, I marked how many drivers yielded and how many drivers did not yield.

About half yielded. Yielding was spread unevenly across the pedestrians, because if one driver didn’t yield, the next drivers would follow, none of them yielding. Of course, if one driver did yield, all the other drivers had to wait behind, and weren’t counted (according to the guidelines for our data collection). So, for the majority of the pedestrians, drivers yielded, but when one driver didn’t yield, several didn’t yield.

Whether walking or driving, people copy what they see other people doing. Set an example! Yield to people in the crosswalk!

Not once did I see someone dart out in front of a car.

I did my observations on Mondays and another instructor did Tuesdays. He saw something horrible. He saw a pedestrian push the button to make the lights flash and walk into the crosswalk. Then he saw a driver hit her.

I can hear you now, saying, “But every time I drive past the Student Union, someone walks out in front of me.” I’m sure that has happened once or twice, but every time? Really?

Before you say that ever again, I want you to take a lawn chair and a pad of paper over to the crosswalk in front of the Student Union, or any other intersection where you’ve “almost” hit someone. When you see a pedestrian, note if she walks out in front of traffic or if she looks for traffic. Count how many drivers fail to yield when she is in the crosswalk.

When you can show me your tally marks, then I’ll allow you to say how clueless the people walking are!

Photo by Columbia Parks & Rec

You might think there aren’t any tricks to being a pedestrian. Just like bicycling is more than knowing how to ride a bike, there is a little more to walking than putting one foot in front of the other.

Pedestrian safety is fairly straightforward and mainly consists of “Watch for cars!” You might not know that it is just as safe (or just as dangerous) to cross midblock as at a crosswalk– but midblock crossings are illegal in many places. It’s more important to know where to watch for cars: cars pulling in and out of driveways, parking lots, and parking spaces, and cars making right or left turns.

There is one trick to being a pedestrian that most people don’t know. I helped the police with data collection and for two hours a day, I watched pedestrians and cars at a crosswalk downtown. People who waited on the sidewalk for cars to yield had to wait a long time. People who went ahead and stepped into the crosswalk– not into the path of oncoming traffic, just putting one foot in the crosswalk– didn’t have to wait very long before cars yielded. Not only is the “one foot in the crosswalk” trick effective, but it is also the law. Cars are required by law to stop at a crosswalk when there is a pedestrian IN the crosswalk. Cars don’t have to stop for someone standing on the curb waiting for someone to stop and let them cross!

One foot in the crosswalk is effective, it is a legal way to make cars stop for you, and it is SAFE. We’re not talking about jumping out in front of traffic. Just one foot in the crosswalk is enough.

If you see someone waiting to cross the street, stop and let her cross, even if one foot isn’t in the crosswalk.

Let’s hear it for the Rainbow Tour

It’s impossible to be a fair weather bicyclist in Missouri, because Missouri, as far as I can tell, doesn’t have fair weather.

It is true that sometimes the temperatures can be quite mild. Generally this brief mild time is accompanied by severe winds bringing in the cold front or the warm front and happens  as the temperature skyrockets or plummets from one extreme to another.

I was amazed this spring as the sun shone merrily on warm days, and nothing but warm, mild days forecasted as far as the forecast would go. The wind wasn’t terribly strong. Furthermore, this coincided with my finals week (neither of my classes had final exams) and my spring break! I gleefully penciled in daily, long bike rides.

But then I sneezed. I wheezed. My eyes watered. “Blast you, juniper!” I cried out, melodramatically. “Blast you and your tiny pollen sperm daggers stabbing my eyes!” I continued metaphorically. There would be no more bike rides until the juniper orgy ended.

I bike for transportation in all weather. I bike for recreation in a lot of weather but not in all weather. Extreme cold, high wind, cold rain, extreme heat, and pollen keep me from just-for-fun bike rides!

Visiting Phoenix a few years ago, I biked 7 hours on the canal paths when it reached 107 °F. That sounds dangerous, but I didn’t have as many problems on that ride as I had on a much shorter ride on a humid April day in Missouri when I experienced an electrolyte deficiency. The transitions from one season to the next are often more difficult than the extremes. At the beginning of winter, I wear my balaclava when it drops below 40 °F. By the end of winter, 35 °F is too warm for my balaclava.

Last winter my husband walked to the store with me during a cold snap. He complained his face hurt from the wind. Because I’d been biking in the cold, I hadn’t noticed the wind on my face. He needed an extra layer on his face because he wasn’t used to being out in this weather.

I’m more comfortable when I push the elements. If I try to maximize my comfort by staying indoors, I am trapped indoors. If I push myself outside when it’s nasty, my definition of “nice weather” expands dramatically.

Missouri does have nice weather– briefly, and comparatively!