A true tale from this Sunday morning.
Driving into town Sunday morning, on my trip to Ecocycle I came up to the Crosswalk near 28th and Iris on 28th street that crosses the street from Safeway to Sports Authority.
To further complicate matters there is a bus pulloff between 28th and Safeway.
As I approached the crosswalk from the North (travelling South) in the right lane, I could see a couple approaching the bus pulloff heading to cross the street from Safeway to Sports Authority.
Because this is Boulder, I automatically slowed down and started to come to a stop before they had even reached the official crosswalk. The couple reached the crosswalk, pushed the button and strated crossing the street without breaking stride. I heard the sound of a car coming up from behind me and sure enough a car in the left lane blew through the crosswalk.
The situation at that time was as follows:
1. The couple had pressed the flashing button and the crosswalk light was flashing.
2. The couple had not broken stride and were approaching the left lane when the car blew through.
3. To the couples credit, they must have been paying some attention or they would have walked in front of the car and without a doubt suffered very serious injuries and it’s very easy to imagine they would have been crippled for life.
So thankfully no one was hurt but I find myself troubled because of the following…
1. By stopping before they even touched the crosswalk light, did I give the couple a false sense of security that they should walk out into the crosswalk without breaking stride?
2. By not breaking stride in their walk into the crosswalk did they setup a situation where there was almost a human/auto collision where it shouldn’t have been that close?
I absolutely hate the fucking Boulder crosswalks. I believe they create a very dangerous situation where a small error can result in a tragic accident. A tragic accident was about 2 strides away from happening only feet away from me Sunday morning.
