Chris Morris on distracted driving: "Pedestrians have the right-of-way, and don’t block crosswalks with your vehicles."

True story.

Those of us not cocooned in our cars understand quite well what it is.

Bullying, or the routine aggression that characterizes bad driving behavior.

We’ve all been there. You’re crossing the street, thinking you have a clear path, when the driver waiting at the light starts lurching into the crosswalk, itching for the green signal. Before you know it, you and everyone else crossing has to squeeze around this bully.

Inspired by a recent Jonathan McLeod post (headline: “Stop fucking driving your car at people”), I set out to catalogue a few of the most obnoxious behaviors people routinely engage in behind the wheel of a car.

Intersection bullying — when motorists occupy a chunk of crosswalk real estate that belongs to pedestrians with the right of way — is just one example of the many nasty, antisocial, and downright dangerous things drivers do when they’re interacting with people outside their car.

There’s a ton of bad driving behavior that should be socially unacceptable, but for some reason, granted the anonymity of a car, people engage in it anyway. This routine aggression needs to be called out for what it is — bullying.

Chris Morris nails this one.

MORRIS: Dealing with distracted drivers (Raycom Meets Tom May)

One of the reasons given for New Albany’s street conversion last year was to slow traffic, making it safer to not only drive in the city, but to walk, jog and ride a bike without the fear of being hit by a speeding car.

But city government can’t legislate distracted driving or those motorists who ignore traffic signals and crosswalks. Unless the police see it, not much can be done. So, a year later, are the streets safer?

Let’s say things have improved.

As a regular walker and jogger I see people every day ignore basic principles of driving on a downtown street. The main ones being pedestrians have the right-of-way, and don’t block crosswalks with your vehicles.

Here is what I see regularly at crosswalks: A motorist will pull up to the stop, ignore both me and the crosswalk, and wait for an opening before pulling out into traffic. Even though I was there first, and already had a step in the crosswalk, they just go on as if I were invisible. This one drives me crazy. Crosswalks are there for a reason, to allow walkers a safe path to cross a street.

This happens regularly in the morning as I cross Eighth Street. I usually have to jog behind or between cars because the crosswalk is covered up by a vehicle. It’s like I am invisible as they prepare to pull out onto Spring Street ...

This means you: "STOP FUCKING DRIVING YOUR CAR AT PEOPLE."

This insightful comment to a fine rant clarifies the problem of bad design affecting outcomes. Perhaps Larry Summers can elucidate, assuming Dear Leader permits "truthful dialogue" within city limits.

"This is largely a problem of bad design of North American intersections, compounded by MUTCD and its Canadian equivalent. Cut to Germany (and many other places), where traffic lights are aligned between the stop line and the crosswalk. There are no traffic signals on the opposite side of the intersection (though in places like the UK, there will be two lights at the stop line, on either side of the nearside, and one light on the far side). This forces drivers to stop before the crosswalk and makes it almost impossible for drivers to see the light if they pull forward. North American roadway design is dangerous in its neglect for the safety of pedestrians."

We already know what Pat McLaughlin would say: "Can't they just drive like everyone else who matters?"

Meanwhile, the author is Canadian, and the problem is universal.

STOP FUCKING DRIVING YOUR CAR AT PEOPLE, by Jonathan McLeod (Steps from the Canal)

Often when I’m crossing a street–on my bike or walking or walking with my small children–a driver will be slowly driving at me. They’ll be creeping past the stop line and into the crosswalk, hoping to go through right after I clear their fender. Make no mistake, I’ll have the right of way. They’ll be waiting at a stop sign or looking to turn right on a red.

A lot of you do this, and here’s the thing; I don’t care how nice you are out of your car, how caring, how altruistic, how thoughtful; when you do this, when you creep towards a vulnerable road user–especially young children–you’re being an asshole.

Stop it. It’s rude. It’s threatening. It’s selfish. It’s intimidating. It’s fucking dangerous.

Recently, a New York driver did this. And she killed a one-year-old and three-year-old, and sent a pregnant woman to the hospital. From the story:

The woman told officers that she was creeping up a bit at the intersection in anticipation of the red light changing and then accidentally hit the accelerator, according to the Post report, which cited information from sources.

Make no mistake about it, this woman is a murderer, if the word is to mean anything at all. She intentionally drove her car at people, then “accidentally” accelerated at them.

Because New York authorities take things so seriously, they let the killer go ...

"When cars disrespect the crosswalk line."

A tweet from Cars in Crosswalks was retweeted by Jeff Speck. Watch the loop at Vine: "When cars disrespect the crosswalk line."

Pedestrians in New Albany witness cars in crosswalks dozens of times daily. Usually the driver's eyes are fixed in the direction of approaching one-way traffic, and he or she pays no attention to human beings walking.

The last time it happened to me, I kept walking into the street via the crosswalk and stood next to the car as the driver gazed in the opposite direction. When he finally looked, he was startled.

He rolled down the window and asked me what the fuck I was doing, and I said "Waiting for you to move so I can finish crossing."

He cursed me again, squealed his tires pulling out, circled around the block, and passed me further up the street so that he could throw a third f-bomb as he dashed away. It was a work vehicle, but I didn't see the phone number to provide an answer to the question of how he was driving.

Boorish auto-centric Kentucky white male Trump voters are really annoying, aren't they? Why is it that I have to leave their country, and not the other way around?