on Feb 7 a friend of mine was hit while crossing the road.  Fayetteville does not have many protected crosswalks so it tends to be nerve wracking at the best of times.  He was in the center turn lane when he was hit by a speeding drive who was either trying to beat the light, or was going to run it.  He was thrown 168 feet and suffered severe internal injuries and has several broken bones, including in his neck.  The jerk who hit him left the scene without even bothering to call 911.  Luckily for my friend this happened right in front of the hospital so he was taken care of immediately.  He is still going to face a lot of surgery and several months of recovery, and may not be able to return to work at all. 

Now it's nearly a month later and no one has stepped forward to report this jerk who has to have severe front end damage to his little SUV.  And our wonderful local newspaper didn't even report it.  It showed up in the weekly crimestoppers, hidden inside the local section.  So a lot of people with leads wouldn't have even known that the damage was from hitting a person and not from running into a cow or some other dumb excuse. 

If it were my son driving that car, he would have to call 911 to turn himself in for protection from me. 

how many of you live in places where pedestrians have to hope that drivers are actually going to obey traffic laws so they can cross a road safely.   I have never lived in any other place that doesn't have walk lights on major roads around hospitals, shopping centers, or even schools.

AO

alaskan outside

I think this bog coincides very well with the one I just created about mob mentality on the freeways.

It's the world today.

Most times, today, it's every man for himself.

What is the reason?  Is it lack of family values -- or lack of family altogether?

Is it lack or morals?  Children are taught there is no right or wrong.  What is right or wrong is only in the eye of the beholder.

Here in Seattle, drivers used to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks until those stupid newcomers moved here. Now half of drivers don't stop. We need to place cameras at crosswalks so they can montior drivers. Germany is the only country in the world where drivers DO stop for people at crosswalks. The law is strictly enforced there. We need that here in the U.S.  

They must have tough penalties in Germany.  I've experienced what Alasdair describes.  It was a weird sight seeing traffic stop as soon as you stepped off the curb.  What was worse was realizing how "trained" I've become to paranoidly look out the corners of my eyes while crossing a street.

I could walk to a newly built shopping center a few hundred yards from me.  I don't because it is too dangerous.  Apparently the drivers don't expect to encounter pedestrians.  The whole place is not even designed or built for pedestrian use.

 I hit a 14 yr. old back in '04. He walked right out in front of my car w/ no discretion. i was not at fault for having hit him...Let me just make that clear. He was not seriously hurt, shaken mostly. I had only just started to accelerate at a right turn. I flew out of my car so fast, my flip flops fell off my feet. I was crying and shaking at having a boy fly off the hood of my car. The police and EMS came and found him at fault for not paying attention. There was no way I could have seen him in enough time. Trust me, I would never have gone if I had! Kind witness's came to my defense as there was one crabby old woman who thought I had done it on purpose...yeah, thats why I was sobbing like a moron. For someone NOT to stop after maming someone like this suv driver did just means they are selfish and gruesome and don't care about anyone else's life. And to think some of these hit and runners have children. It still haunts me whenever I use that intersection and I will sit there a beat longer than I probably should just out of a little leftover paranoia. What time of day was your friend hit? If I had seen this happen, I would have hauled ass to to stop this guy from getting away.

FIRST OFF PEOPLE WHO RUN OR TRY TO GET AWAY AFTER THEY'VE HIT SOMEONE ARE NOT, AS A RULE, SELFISH OR GRUESOME, THEY'RE MORE THAN LIKELY IMPAIRED IN SOME WAY OR ARE DRIVING ILLEGALLY OR HAVE OUTSTANDING WARRANTS OR ARE JUST PLAIN SCARED TO STOP........IT DOESN'T CHANGE ANYTHING, BUT IT SHOULD SEND A VERY SERIOUS MESSAGE TO EVERYONE OF US WHO DRIVE...........IF WE CONTINUE TO DRIVE LIKE IDIOTS AND DISOBEY LAWS AND DISREGARD EACH OTHERS SAFETY WE'LL SOONER THEN LATER BE INVOVLED IN SOMETHING LIKE THIS OR SOME OTHER KIND OF ACCIDENT........AND AS YOU STATED YOU STILL GET A FUNNY FEELING WHEN YOU GO BY THERE............AND BTW...IT'S NOT A GOOD CHOICE TO DRIVE IN 'FLIP/FLOPS....I WOULD SUGGEST REGULAR SHOES OR EVEN BAREFOOT.....YOU'D HAVE BETTER CONTROL.....AS FAR AS FINDING 'HIM'  AT FAULT, WELL ALL I CAN SAY IS YOUR LUCKY THERE BECAUSE MOST STATES REQUIRE THAT DRIVERS BE IN CONTROL OF THEIR VEHICLES AT 'ALL' TIMES.........SO UNLESS THIS KID WAS DRUNK AND WANDERED ON THE ROAD OR HE CAME OUT FROM BEHIND PARKED CARS YOU MIGHT HAVE HAD A DIFFERENT OUTCOME SOMEWHERE ELSE.......... 

Here in Vegas, drivers have to protect themselves from the pedestrians who will cross the streets where-ever they feel like it.....often within a few yards of a marked crosswalk at an intersection.  It is not uncommon to see pedestrians weaving their way between cars that are stopped for red lights 

You weren't there, so you don't know the circumstances. You think a pedestrian can't make a mistake? And I WAS in control of my vehicle, I didn't make it that far going 5-10 mph. I've never had an accident wearing goddamn flip flops. I leave it up to other people to hit me, like they have, wearing shoes and going 45mph :(P

suddenly reminded of the '99 debacle....

a week after buying a new vehicle (new to US, the van was in high school by then), we were driving out north, about 3 miles from home.  traffic was thick, this was 2 lanes on a one-way, and this middle-aged chunky drunk started out into the street, too close for any of us to stop.  the van in the right lane next to me drove up on the sidewalk where the guy came from; i didn't have that option (trees between street & sidewalk).  from that day until the day i sold the thing in '04, i was constantly reminded of that by the sprung hood that never closed right again.

the guy tried to beat feet out of the way, but chose the wrong direction to go;  he FLEW off the front of my hood, landed, bounced, and rolled about 20 feet away.  stunned but seemingly uninjured, when the cops arrived (less than 5 minutes, i'm amazed), he refused an ambulance or any medical assistance.  was trying get up, took two cops to hold him down.

i'm glad my daughter was too young at the time to remember that; i'll never forget the sickening feel and sound of 240# of person bouncing off my hood.... 

oh, yeah -- he was cited for public intox; i wasn't faulted, but that's right up there in my memory w/ losing 6 cousins on 9/11.... 

I remember for my 6th birthday my folks took me to this nice restaurant in Philadelphia.

On the way home, I remember watching as this car flew over the hill and a drunk staggered out of a bar and walked right in front of the car.

I remember the car skidded and the guy flew like 30 feet.

I wanted my folks to stop to see if the guy was alright, but they wouldn't and kept going.  There were plenty of people around, being in the city.

That would've been on Cottman Avenue around 1962. 

AO, just to let you know, I sent links to this blog to Northwest Arkensas Times and to CBS channel 5.

Maybe they'll get off the stick and put the word out so the police can catch that driver. 

Thanks TomCat, I live in NC though.  I keep forgetting that there is more than one Fayetteville in the States.  I will send this to my local paper and to the tv news stations in Raleigh.  Thanks for the idea.

We also have horrible problems with people walking out in traffic at red lights because there are no protected crosswalks.  I worry about them because alot of people who use the bus system are the ones crossing the streets to and from the stops, or kids walking to the gas stations for soda and candy.  I used to do the same thing in CA but every intersection with a traffic light had crosswalks too. 

I think I got too used to the the European ways in ten years of living there thanks to the US Air Force.  In Germany we HAD to stop if someone was in a marked crosswalk, if they crossed elsewhere, like three feet off one, we didn't have to stop.  Here it is so bad that schoolkids crossing at intersections when the lights are in their favor are not safe because no one watches for them after the guards are gone.  How hard is it to install pedestrian lights in school zones and other heavily used areas?  Fort Bragg has them all over the place.  Since they only stop traffic when the button is pushed it's not like traffic is going to be stopped for no reason.

I will let you all know when I get rear-ended because I do stop for pedestrians everywhere I go. 

It was already dark when my friend was crossing, but he was at the intersection with the lights in his favor.  The driver was speeding and probably drunk or on the phone, or doing something else he should not have been doing.    I will keep y'all up to date though if you would like.

AO

 In someplaces its ironically safer to cross in the middle of the street then at marked crosswalks. Since at the marked crosswalk at my dorm people just accelerate to avoid stopping for pedestrians. And the Campus police do this too!!!! And since the entrance to one side of the cross walk is hidden my a building and large utility poll it can be hard to see us.