My Journey With Health And Fitness – Pedestrian Safety

As I was leaving the gym yesterday the instructor told everyone if they were as down as she was over Tuesday night they should take a page out of my book and go for a long walk (I did do this and it didn’t help all that much). She also suggested we all do a self care day and stay off of social media. And so for the first time in I don’t know how long I intentionally avoided both FB and X. You know, I am kind of glad I did. As an added bonus I sat on the couch reading a book after dinner which is something I haven’t done at home for a long time.

Tuesday I was out doing a walk to a community service office where I do my Caregivers’ Support Group sessions. On my way I was at an intersection with traffic lights and entered the crosswalk when the white lighted walking symbol came on. I noticed as I was crossing a large group of children (I’d say 8 or 9 years old) coming towards me. As I stepped up on to the curb on the opposite side I looked up and the hand flashing signal was now on and it showed 11 seconds remaining. Much to my astonishment the teacher leading the first group of children led them into the crosswalk anyways. Then a second teacher led her group into the crosswalk when there was only 6 seconds remaining. Not all of the children managed to get to the other side of the crosswalk before the traffic lights changed.

I was disgusted by those teachers. Leading those children into a risky situation is just not acceptable. Not only were they putting them in danger but they were also teaching them that this kind of behaviour is ok. Needless to say I have sent an email to the school advising them of what happened. I should note there were two other groups but their teachers correctly opted to wait for the next light before crossing.

Pedestrian safety is not just about keeping yourself safe from drivers who are distracted or who ignore the rules, it is also about pedestrians obeying the rules. Having said that, let’s review what the signals on crosswalks indicate. 1) the white lighted walking symbol means it is safe to enter the crosswalk. Actually it is the only symbol that allows you to do so. 2) the red flashing hand with the seconds counting down indicates it is not safe to enter the crosswalk and the seconds indicate how long those already in the intersection have to finish crossing. 3) the solid red hand is clear, DO NOT ENTER the crosswalk. These are simple signals designed to keep pedestrians safe but also to allow those turning right on a green light to be able to do so.

So when you are out walking think about your responsibility when using a crosswalk and for god’s sake, obey the signals.