Scene and heard

In Brooklyn, there are road markings that are reminiscent of Pedestrian Walkways in the rest of New York and the US, and highly recognizable to British people as Zebra Crossings. Strips of white are painted on the road and boundaried by a thinner white line. But non-Brooklynites would do well to not be fooled by this similarity. What actually is it? A temporary parking solution for minivans? A focal point for pedestrian frustration? I really don’t know. What I do know, is that in one year, I have seen 3 vehicles stop for wanabee crossers: There was a woman loaded with stroller, small children walking and shopping; there was the time that I just walked out and dared a car – not advised in this part of the world; and once when someone just stopped – must’ve been from out-of-town!

I think that either the pedestrian right-of-way should be enforced or these ridiculous focal points in the road – surely all they actually are – should be removed.

Hoboken has a similar idea that works only marginally better. Where there aren’t stop signs, there are ‘yield to pedestrian’ signs, which a majority of drivers try to ignore. Last weekend, while a third of the way across one of these, walking with Susan, a car just ignored us and drove within inches of us - close enough that when I kicked out, I caught his tire hub. This was far from the first such incident, but certainly the most dangerous so far. How about some cameras to bust these arseholes?