My Journey With Weight Loss – I Need To Rant

This is not the post that I planned to write today but I am so frustrated I decided I need to rant. It was lovely to get up this morning and there was no rain happening. Today was my hill training day so I started off with a warm up walk and then a jog for several blocks until I get to the bottom of the hill that I use. Now I usually hit the road at around 5:45am so of course it is quite dark out. I try to run in well lit areas (except the west beach promenade which I have complained about to the Mayor as it is very poorly lit) and I wear a very bright jacket with many reflective stripes. Trust me, it would be hard not so see me.

As I was jogging along this morning I got to an intersection on the east side of the street. I watched as I started into the intersection to see a car pull up to the stop sign on the west side of the street. He then raced through the intersection and only avoided hitting me because I frantically jumped back. There is no way he didn’t see me so I truly believe he decided if he gunned it he would get through the intersection before I did. Seriously, that 5 seconds he saved could have cost me my life.

This would not upset me so much but things like this happen at least once a week. My favourite is when I hit the button at a controlled crosswalk and vehicles that have plenty of time to stop actually accelerate illegally disregarding the flashing pedestrian lights (note, I always wave at drivers who appropriately stop and smile at the ones who stop before I even hit that button, those are good drivers). Do these people realize what would happen to them if they struck me? Do they not understand that they would have to live with that for the rest of their lives?

I know I do my part to try and keep myself safe. I am very cognizant of the vehicles at every intersection, I never jaywalk, I wear a high visibility jacket, I stop and look at the railway crossing, I wave vehicles through whenever possible. I am not sure what more I can do. Our public auto insurance company did a campaign about the fact that this time of year is when they see the highest number of pedestrian involved accidents and were reminding drivers to always be on the lookout for pedestrians. Apparently that campaign completely missed the mark, well at least in the area where I live.

If you are a driver, please at every intersection or crosswalk be aware of your surroundings and watch for pedestrians. If you are out walking or running be very cautious at all times to protect yourself. I read a letter to the editor in our local paper recently that said we should go back to a saying they had when she was a child, white at night meaning to wear white when it is dark out. I disagree, white is not reflective so it should be bright at night meaning high visibility including reflective stripes.

End of rant.