why did the college student cross the road... RANT!

[vtsarahb]

I work at a college. It's great, but there is one thing that annoys the bejesus out of me- the students do not seem to know how to cross the street. They just walk out, without looking (most of the time talking on their cell phones, listening to ipods etc.), whenever and wherever they feel like it.

There are a ton of crosswalks... none of them get used. I drive about 15 mph through campus, and I still have to slam on my brakes (several times a day!) to avoid hitting some oblivious kid who is walking out from between parked cars, crossing the street diagonally, with a cell phone stuck to their head.

I grew up near a city, and if you walked out in the road in the middle of traffic, you'd get run over! What is wrong with these kids? Do they have any sense at all?? I know you're supposed to yield to pedestrians, but this is just ridiculous! I thought pretty much everyone learned to LOOK BOTH WAYS before crossing the street!

OK, rant over... thanks for listening

 

[I have WHAT in my yard?]

I think there is a certain level of arrogance that comes with that age. They think they're indestuctable and they think the campus is their universe and so should bend to them. I love the ones who are walking around with iPods plugged into their heads so they cannot hear anyone calling them or a horn!

If they live through it the world will kick it out of them.....

 

[JennsPeeps]

My rant about driving across a college campus is the people who won't stop for you when you're in the crosswalk... and it's RAINING!

 

[vtsarahb]

wow, what college is that? everybody stops here.... raining or not!

 

[mountaintopchicken]

I see you're in Vermont, vtsarahb.

You know, I think part of this is that there seems to be a unique VT thing about cars and pedestrians.

Some people I know from NY were telling me about visiting Burlington, and how every time they were anywhere on a sidewalk, and looked like they were even possibly thinking about crossing the road, cars would stop. This happened to them all the time, and they ended up having to wave cars on to keep going, because they weren't actually crossing, they just accidentally looked as though they might.

Maybe the kids are getting so used to that happening that they just forget that someday, someone might not slam on the brakes the second they get near the edge of that sidewalk.

It was definitively a surprise for me when I moved to a small town in NY state for a little while. No one stops, not even in the middle of a small town. One day I was trying to cross a tiny little quiet street carrying a heavy box of apples to bring to a food shelf - the cars seemed to be trying to hit me! Weird how different places have different driving cultures...

 

[I have WHAT in my yard?]

That is TOO true.

There is a very busy four way stop near me. Once upon a time I commented that it was he nicest four way stop I had ever seen! I could not get over how such a busy intersection functioned so well on simple politeness.





Ten years later - more subdivisions, more new people who don't do country life, more traffic. Polite no more. I still go through it all the time and I am still polite, but now people gesture and yell at each other. They try to butt in and turn when it is not their turn etc...... sad.