>For every instance of kids walking into the street without looking I could site examples of mothers with baby carriages waiting in crosswalks as cars zoom past.
The fact of the matter is the majority of pedestrians killed or seriously hurt in town in recent years were in crosswalks. The law clearly states that pedestrians have the right of way and drivers MUST STOP for them.
The problem in Ridgewood is compounded by drivers who get annoyed by situations that “force them to stop” just like you expressed. Usually there is a very good reason for the car in front of you being stopped – they are probably obeying the law and yielding to a pedestrian. The impatient driver will make the determination that the driver in front of them must be daydreaming and pull their car around the stopped car, usually with the pedal on the floor….OPPS, I just ran over a person in the crosswalk! Oh well, I’ll just get a ticket for failing to yield to a pedestrian and go on with my life.
Bringing “Wall Street” into this issue is silly and irrelevant but since you did – The only obvious similarity between the two issue is this: Neither the self important Wall Street hot shots (who ran the world economy into a ditch) nor the distracted drivers who hit pedestrians in crosswalks go to jail. Oh, and both groups live in Ridgewood. What a surprise!
Finally, why is enforcing the law as it pertains to pedestrians in crosswalks or jaywalking for that matter an example of a “nanny state” mentality? If someone came up behind you on the Ridgewood Ave and stole your wallet out of your pocket, I’d bet you’d go straight to the police, right? I might argue (in your world at least) that you should have been more careful, had your wallet in your front pocket with your hand over it to prevent someone from pickpocketing you. I could go on to argue that by reporting reporting the crime to the police you were looking for the big bad Government to bail you out of your own stupidity. Just because you’re clearly inconvenienced by the law that compels you to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks doesn’t make the law go away. Do everyone a favor and slow down, yield to pedestrians and help solve the problem we have in Ridgewood. The life you save just might be one of your loved ones.
