While driving down North Road near Lougheed Highway on my way to work I was listening to the radio news about how there have been nine pedestrians struck and killed by cars this year.
As I was sitting in the stopped traffic, in the middle of the block winding his way across eight lanes of traffic came a pedestrian dressed in black from head to toe.
He worked his way through the multiple lanes of stopped cars and then stepped into the last lane he needed to cross.
The last lane had no cars stopped in it because the cars were going to the corner and turning right onto Lougheed. So, as you can picture, there were cars traveling in that lane.
As the pedestrian stepped into the last lane on North Road he was nearly hit by a car traveling down that lane.
As you would expect, the car came to a sliding stop and the pedestrian jumped out of the way. The next thing that happened took me by surprise.
The pedestrian turned around, flipped the car driver The Bird and shouted obscenities at the car driver. Essentially he told the driver to “watch where you are going”.
It was obvious to me that crossing eight lanes of traffic, mid-block on a rainy day when visibility is very limited is probably an incredibly dangerous thing to do.
Of course drivers need to be aware and super vigilant when driving but for goodness sakes, pedestrians also need to take some responsibility for their own safety.