Every day or so, there is an article in the paper about a pedestrian killed while crossing the street. Sometimes, the article is just tragic - a pedestrian following all the rules killed by a driver who didn't even stop afterward. But, sadly, most of these articles are about what I've come to think of as automotive Darwinism. Whether the pedestrians who dart out in front of a driver in the middle of the street - no crosswalk - or wait until the Don't Walk sign turns solid to start across - are daring, suicidal, or just plain stupid isn't a question I can answer, but I do feel that if Survival of the Fittest is the rule, these people are playing right along.
This used to be an occasional occurrence but lately not a day has gone by that some pedestrian hasn't, in effect, dared me to hit them. And sometimes they've made it awfully hard not to do so. Mind you, I won't pretend I always follow the letter of the law myself, but I spent ten years as a pedestrian in NYC where you either break the laws intelligently, not at all, or you die. I cross against the light or in the middle of the street - if no car is coming! I just have never been under the illusion that drivers would slow or stop for me if I was in the wrong.
This is not to say that pedestrians (and I am often one) are the only offenders. Not much point in even talking about cyclists. No one who has driven on a city street in the past decade has missed the joy of finally being able to safely pass one only to watch him sail through a red light that you have dutifully stopped for so that you are again behind him. I don't know if they are practicing Cycling Darwinism but I fully expect to start reading articles about cyclists being driven off the roads by the drivers they have intentionally pissed off.
In the past, I have gone sky-diving, lived in crime-ridden cities, and taken a fall (or two) from a pole that could have ended poorly. But, by far, the most dangerous thing I do is drive. In DC. Now I firmly believe that most cities are filled with bad drivers. I'm not sure you could pay me to get in a car in Rome or Athens again and I haven't been many places where drivers tended to be polite and law-abiding. But this is a city of powerful, arrogant "important" people (at least when they look in the mirror), and those are not qualities likely to make one a more thoughtful driver. It occurred to me some time ago that the problem isn't that people don't know how to drive. It's that they truly believe that the laws should apply to everyone else - but not them. That their time is so much more valuable than anyone else's that they DESERVE to run that red light/stop sign/ignore that pedestrian lawfully walking in the crosswalk.
Frankly, I don't think it's possible to invent laws that will impact stupidity, arrogance and selfishness. Our only hope is the driverless car. Yes, I love the idea of knowing that no cars will be driven by people who are drunk or falling asleep or paying more attention to their phones than the road, and I am delighted at the idea that the elderly will be able to get around on their "own". But I think the biggest impact is going to be that the cars, not the drivers, will be making the "decisions", and no matter how little one cares about laws or others on the road, the car will overrule their impatience.
So. Now all we have to do is figure out how to save pedestrians and cyclists from their stupidity - and the rest of us from pedestrians and cyclists!
