You Walk On The Wrong Side Of The Road

Persons walking on the travel portion of a roadway, must walk towards/facing oncoming traffic.  This, of course, is so you can see the oncoming cars and take proper steps to avoid being hit.  Whether the oncoming car should slow down or move into the other lane is a matter of supposition, and sometimes law.

But, if a pedestrian encounters, is struck by, a car, the pedestrian, which is you, will always lose;  therefore, it is incumbent upon youself to also look out for your well being.  As I've stated in another Post, there are 70,000 pedestrians hit by cars in the United States and 4,000 of them are killed every year.

When crossing a street, most pedestrians walk across diagonally instead of in a perpendicular route of travel.  Perpendicular travel is the shortest distance from one side to the other: straight across.  Diagonally is a straight line that's set at an angle from one side to the other.  By walking at an angle you remain on the roadway up to 35% longer, giving yourself a greater time to be hit by a car.

Whenever you're on foot, walking, you're a pedestrian.  People don't appreciate this and think that it only pertains to roadwaays.  You're also a pedestrian when walking in a parking lot and coming out of a store travesing a white-lined pedestrian zone.  Just because the crosswalk at an intersection or just outside the store is marked doesn't mean that a car can't hit you.  

Didn't your mother tell you to look both ways before crossing the street?  Well, you should also look both ways before stepping into a crosswalk, or stepping out into a parking lot when exiting a store.  While we're trying not to get hit by a car in a parking lot, one should observe the back lights on the cars, whether they're off, red, or white.  White means that the car is in reverse and ready to back up into you.

Another dangerous practice often engaged in by pedestrians is when they have earphones on and listening to music.  This prevents them from hearing the oncoming cars.  This practice is especially dangerous when walking on the wrong side of the road.




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