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The personal responsibility of crossing the street

  • Published
  • By Bekah Clark
  • 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. --  I like to consider myself a fairly safe driver. Sure, like the rest of the driving population I'm not perfect, but overall I'm a good and courteous driver. I follow speed limits to the best of my ability, I use my turn signal when I turn or switch lanes, and I'm happy to share the road with motorcycles, bikes and the occasional pedestrian.

But regardless of how safely I drive, one thing I have absolutely zero control over is when pedestrians walk out in front of my car without so much as a blink in either direction to ensure that a car is not coming. This happens more than I'd like to admit while driving on Scott, and I'd venture to guess that most of us have seen it.

Too often, I've been driving on base and have seen people walk directly into the street, thinking that because they're in a crosswalk they're invincible.

Folks, those painted white lines on the asphalt are just that--painted white lines.
It doesn't matter if you're walking to your car for lunch, running around the flightline to get your PT in, or just walking to a meeting, the crosswalk is not an impenetrable force field. If my vehicle is moving at 30 mph and you pop out from behind a tree and into the road without looking, I'll do what I can to avoid an accident, but even the newest of cars can't stop on a dime.

In fact, this has been the cause for two pedestrian-vehicle accidents over the summer months at Scott. In each of those accidents the pedestrian may have been just as much at fault as the driver because of failure to take five seconds to ensure the road was clear before entering a crosswalk.

Stop, look, and listen. Isn't that a habit that even small children are taught? So why aren't we adults doing the same thing?

I'm not trying to deflect responsibility as the driver of a motorized vehicle; I recognize that pedestrians do have the right of way in crosswalks and that it is state law that I stop for them. However, it's also state law that pedestrians take on a little personal responsibility and give the oncoming cars a reasonable amount of time to stop. Stepping out 10 feet in front of a moving vehicle is not a reasonable amount of time.

Let's work together to keep everyone safe as we go about our daily work on this busy base.