Crosswalks?

muppet said:

Why can't we get some of these signs? Before you say "snow plows" this is a photo from Chicago.

muppet said:

My pet peeve...why is there a "Yield" sign rather than a stop sign on Durand at the intersection of Maplewood Avenue? Cars come barreling down Durand ready to turn right onto Maplewood Ave, looking left to yield to cars on Maplewood Ave. They rarely look right to yield to, never mind stop for, pedestrians crossing Durand. I'm certain we can do better at that busy pedestrian intersection right in front of the train station!

Sunday night, I was driving a car through New Paltz, NY. It was dark. I was driving with normal caution at a reasonable speed. Just as my car was passing through a crosswalk, I realized someone had started to cross from my left and was a third of the way through. We didn't come close to colliding, but I noticed I hadn't taken enough caution to see the pedestrian.

Immediately a patrol car came from behind and pulled me over. The officer was effusively polite and told me she saw me fail to yield to the pedestrian. I told her she was right, and it's funny, because I'm normally very conscious of that. She took my information and presumably looked me up. She let me go without a ticket. She would have been within her rights to cite me. Overall, it was a good experience.

Hm. Do we need a "New Paltz Specific" thread?

mrincredible said:
Hm. Do we need a "New Paltz Specific" thread? ">

Any Paltz will do, new or old.

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Wanna see a real clown parade? Visit the corner of Essex Ave and Irvingion Ave...where the new pre school is. Parents are dropping the tykes off and trying to cross Irvington. This results in frequent horn blowing and unpleasant shouting.

Sooner or later, somebody and their kids are gonna get hit

I hereby publicly apologize to all pedestrians in crosswalks that I didn't stop for. I truly didn't see you until it was too late to stop. Like the young woman this morning who was wearing a reddish or pinkish ensemble and was about to cross the street right by Our Lady of Sorrows... the crosswalk was paved in red brick and you kind of blended in to it. But it was my bad, 100 percent...

Tom_Reingold said:

mrincredible said:
Hm. Do we need a "New Paltz Specific" thread? ">

Any Paltz will do, new or old.

Ha! I like it.

kraines said:

The only way this is going to change is for the police to actually do some real enforcement. Once it hits people in their wallets, they will change.

Good enforcement will lead to good habits.

There needs to be some common sense from both sides.

Maybe a month ago on a Saturday I was driving through the village very slowly and was approaching an intersection. Someone was walking their dog on the opposite side of the street, facing me and was also approaching the intersection. It wasn't immediately clear to me whether they were going to keep walking straight, or turn to cross the street. Instead of them stopping and looking first for vehicles both directions, they just took a step off into the crosswalk as I proceeded to go past the crosswalk and into the intersection to make my turn, with clearly more than enough space for them to walk half way across the street and for me to clear in front of them. The person yelled at me for not stopping for them. There was no "close call" at all, we were both basically at the crosswalk at the same time. It was clear that I was continuing on a straight path while it was not clear until they stepped into the crosswalk that they were going to turn to cross the street.

So, anyone crossing the street, just because you may have the right of way, does not mean you shouldn't also look to see if cars are coming, evaluate how close they are to you (they have considerably more mass and momentum than pedestrians do) and whether you think they have time stop just in case. And then, don't yell at them, if you fail to look before you step out.

The worst cases are those who drive past cars that have stopped for people in the crosswalk. Happened to us on Saturday. We crossed Valley, cars on both sides stopped for us (after about 10 cars went by), then we started walking and a car went past the one that stopped for us, accelerating hard and shouting four letter words at us for being in the street. If my four year old had not listened to my frantic 'stop', she'd be mince meat now.

pol100gk said:
The worst cases are those who drive past cars that have stopped for people in the crosswalk. Happened to us on Saturday. We crossed Valley, cars on both sides stopped for us (after about 10 cars went by), then we started walking and a car went past the one that stopped for us, accelerating hard and shouting four letter words at us for being in the street. If my four year old had not listened to my frantic 'stop', she'd be mince meat now.

Happens all the time. A guy actually got out of his car to shout at me once for "walking in the street (crosswalk) while people are driving."

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RobB said:

Happens all the time. A guy actually got out of his car to shout at me once for "walking in the street (crosswalk) while people are driving."

Ay! I'm wawkin' hee-ah!

I will admit that at the beginning of the summer I was driving through Montclair on a rainy Saturday morning and two people crossed the street in front of my car and I did not see them coming. I was able to stop in time but I felt terrible that I didn't see them. I was also amazed that even though they had the right of way they never stopped to even look at me.

Sensible placement of marked crosswalks is also important. The new crosswalk connecting North Crescent and South Crescent just before/past the intersection with Valley Street is especially dangerous. Drivers turning east from Valley Street, seeing no crosswalk marked at that intersection, often take the turn at speed and do not see pedestrians in the crosswalk in time for them to stop their car safely before hitting the pedestrian. Pedestrians crossing from south to north can't see that any turning vehicles once they step into the crosswalk because the traffic is moving behind them and around a curve. Drivers heading west on North Crescent fail to notice the stop sign/line or ignore it in their aim to merge with Valley Street traffic as soon as possible. Because of the position of the stop sign on the North Crescent side of the street it is possible that traffic heading west on South Crescent doesn't see it at all. The old crosswalk at the intersection was longer in length and tended to freeze over in winter but it was far safer than the present location.

Tom_Reingold said:

RobB said:Happens all the time. A guy actually got out of his car to shout at me once for "walking in the street (crosswalk) while people are driving."

Ay! I'm wawkin' hee-ah!

Everybody's paltzin' at me ...

This was a first, yesterday I observed a car stopped at a green light to let a mother and her two kids (perhaps ages 3 and no older than 5) cross on South Orange Ave. by Bunnys. Clearly the mother pointed to the light to say the car had the right-of-way. Meantime, cars are honking and the woman driver sits at the green light waiting on them to cross. Finally the Mother darts across the street with her 2 small kids. I'm praying no car from the other direction is speeding down (all this while the light is still green).

The stupidity of endangering you and your kids life and the stupidity of the driver that stopped at the green light egging them to cross. SMH.

fabulouswalls said:
I will admit that at the beginning of the summer I was driving through Montclair on a rainy Saturday morning and two people crossed the street in front of my car and I did not see them coming. I was able to stop in time but I felt terrible that I didn't see them. I was also amazed that even though they had the right of way they never stopped to even look at me.

This is a good point. Sometimes even courteous drivers make mistakes and any pedestrian who just assumes cars will stop should be aware that you cannot qualify for a Darwin Award for fatalities related to using smart phones when you should actually be paying attention to your surroundings.

tjohn said:

This is a good point. Sometimes even courteous drivers make mistakes and any pedestrian who just assumes cars will stop should be aware that you cannot qualify for a Darwin Award for fatalities related to using smart phones when you should actually be paying attention to your surroundings.

In all fairness, they were not on the phone. I have no idea what was going on in their brains so I can't assume anything. Had I run them both over I would be in jail and they would have been seriously injured or killed. No excuses, no defense. I am responsible as the driver according to the law.

I stopped before a crosswalk to allow a child with backpack to cross. The jerk behind me started beeping and when I didn't budge he crossed the double yellow and zoomed around me almost striking the child. Why are people here so impatient, so incensed by following the law and common sense and decency? When you travel elsewhere cars always yield to pedestrians and usually wave a nice hello as well.