Saw something that bothered me on the way into the parking lot at work today. Some idjit on a bicycle, with one kid on the back of the bike and another following on a little scooter/bike thing (looks like a bike without pedals, guess the kid’s feet hit the ground for power). They were approaching a crosswalk when I saw them, and got off their bikes – which is good, you’re supposed to dismount when crossing a street from everything I’ve read/heard. However, the next part is what pissed me off. There was a car in front of me, and myself, the only two cars anywhere near the intersection. And the idjit walked out in front of the car ahead of me, with kid in tow.
It’s one thing when ****tard pedestrians do this – I take pleasure in not stopping unless I’m actually going to hit them, and either way informing them that “look both ways before crossing the street” doesn’t mean so that you get the license plate of someone who doesn’t stop for you when they’re approaching the crosswalk and you step out in front of them. I’ve said this before: vehicles must stop for pedestrians *IN* the crosswalk, not those that decide to walk across the street when there’s traffic, and just assume that everyone will stop for them ’cause they’re now in the crosswalk. That’s just plain stupid. But this incident bothered me for a whole different reason. This jackass is teaching his son, “Look.. if you want to cross a street, just get off your bike, and then walk across. See those cars? They’ll stop for you, they have to. It’s the law.” I hope for this kid’s sake his father gets mowed down by a truck that can’t stop due to another law – the law of physics – and this kid learns, however hard a lesson it might be, that you should look both ways and make sure there’s no traffic before crossing the street.