This is regarding “Hey, we’re walkin’ here; There’s a war in the streets–and who do you think is winning?” (Tempo, Sept. 29).
I walk between Union Station and my office in River North twice a day, mostly via Wacker Drive. Rarely does a day pass without one of those “Oh $%&( circ)!” moments, you know, when you’re crossing the street and there’s a cell-phone-wielding driver bearing down on you, seemingly oblivious to the likely fatal nature of an unplanned meeting between speeding car and human body?
As Tribune cultural critic Julia Keller’s article noted, pedestrians aren’t always in the right, but let’s consider the potential outcomes of foolish behavior: When a pedestrian crosses against the light or lollygags through an intersection, the worst that happens is that drivers are delayed by mere seconds.
Frustrating, sure, but hardly serious.
When the impatient cab driver or BMW pilot blows through a light in an urban area, people can die or be seriously injured.
I know it’s nerve-wracking to drive in downtown Chicago; I do it myself. But let’s be honest about who creates the greater hazard.
Maybe a Tribune reporter would like to accompany me on my daily walk and see how much fun it is when CTA buses block the crosswalks on Madison, forcing pedestrians out into Wacker Drive traffic at rush hour.
Or to stand at Wacker and Orleans or Wacker and LaSalle in the morning and watch as not the expected one or two eastbound cars make left turns after the walk light goes on, but five or six.
Or maybe stroll along State Street at noon and enjoy the spectacle of the city’s traffic aides waving car after car through an intersection after the light has changed.
As the saying goes, walk a mile in my shoes before you judge.
