Comments on: Morning Metro: Soapbox Derby Photos, the Future of Coupon Sites, and Samsung Bets on Green

By: smalltowngal

smalltowngal — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 20:26:00 +0000

Sure. I said “mutual responsibility and respect” on everybody’s part and that’s what I meant. Also a little patience. As a pedestrian, I don’t mind pausing for a car that is forced to creep out across the sidewalk in order to see when they have a break in oncoming traffic. (I can think of at least two places in downtown Decatur where you can’t see past the cars parked along the street, unless you nose right out to the curb.) If they don’t need to, though, and are simply being piggishly oblivious, that’s another matter. Personally, I would particularly like to see citations for parking across the sidewalk when there’s not room to pull all the way into a residential driveway — especially if on-street parking is available.

By: Decatur Metro

Decatur Metro — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 20:18:29 +0000

Can we also ticket motorists who block a sidewalk trying to get out into an intersection then?

By: smalltowngal

smalltowngal — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 20:09:11 +0000

Ticket jaywalkers. Pursue a public awareness campaign that emphasizes mutual responsibility and respect among motorists, pedestrians, cyclists and anybody else using the public right-of-way (as opposed to allowing the dominant narrative to be all about the poor, victimized pedestrians who need more crosswalks even though they don’t use the ones already there). On a more general plane, stop coddling and apologizing for dingbat behavior on the part of people old enough to know better and let them get on with growing up enough to survive in this world. Beyond that, let Darwinism run its course.

By: At Home in Decatur

At Home in Decatur — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 19:10:53 +0000

That sounds like a practical suggestion. College students’ brains may still be weak in judgment and self-policing but they have the ability to learn that jaywalking = expensive ticket + late for class.

By: Brianc

Brianc — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 19:04:08 +0000

The police could actually police some down there…seems like there are a lot in their cars who could be out on the street. Plus, I’ve seen the ones who are on the street completely ignore reckless jaywalking.