Inside Out

Being a pedestrian in a drivers world

photo Samuel Sianipar @ unsplash

We all experience cars two ways:  riding in them, or walking among them.

Those that drive are on the inside of the car.  There’s air conditioning, music, a quiet place to make phone calls, somewhere to eat should you choose, and the freedom to pick where you’re going, based on a whim. 

Pedestrians, on the other hand, experience the outside of a car.  It’s a multi-ton missile capable of turning a pedestrian into a fine red mist.

It’s the second one that gets a lot of ink, about how dangerous it is to be a pedestrian.  And it can be.  But we pedestrians, as a group, don’t do ourselves any favours.  It’s remarkable to see how close pedestrians stand to the road.  Nonchalant, looking at their phones, with a car doing 70 k passing mere feet from them.  Hey, you know those cars aren’t on rails, right?  Buddy driving the car may well be on his phone too, and if he hits you, your loved ones will be identifying you through dental records. And crossing the street wearing headphones…oh no.  Completely taking one of your senses out of the equation, which is the aural equivalent of crossing a busy street with a bag over your head.

Every year in BC, on average, 55 pedestrians are killed, and 2,400 are injured.  So about once a week, someone steps off the curb for the last time. Further, a pedestrian is more likely than any other road user to die or be seriously injured.  Fun fact: 40% of adult pedestrians are intoxicated at the time of their death. So walking home when you’re drunk is better for other people, but not so much for you.

This week in the NY Times, Jamelle Bouie wrote ‘the Main Problem with Pedestrian Deaths Isn’t the Pedestrians’.  And he’s right.  It’s being a pedestrian in a world built for cars.  However…being right doesn’t help if you’re lodged in the wheel well of an SUV.  Yes, we can do a better job protecting pedestrians.  My walkable part of town has bollards to physically restrain cars, and small turning radiuses to keep speed down.  It’s really nice.  But that’s not how most cities are set up. And for a driver, if they hit a pedestrian, they’ll feel bad.  For the pedestrian, well, they’ll feel really bad.

From the inside of a car, the danger comes from, again, cars, but other cars, not yours.  As a pedestrian, I’ve walked by a few wrecks, which in the city almost always happen at intersections.  Somebody too early into a light, or more often, too late.  Airbags deployed, stunned drivers standing on the curb blinking at the cop taking their statement.  I’ve also been in a couple of wrecks, and what stayed with me for years was the sudden violence.  Everything was fine, and suddenly you’re upside down in a ditch trying to figure out where the door is.

There was even a death at the McDonald’s drive thru near my place.  The driver had ordered, and as he approached the window to get his food, he opened the door, but neglected to put the car in park.  The forward momentum then squeezed him between the door and the car, killing him.  When I drive through there now, I often think how he drew his final few breaths right here.

When you walk as the basic foundation of your life, you see things differently than you do behind the wheel of a car.  You see neighbours, business owners, regulars on your routes.  Jim is retired from forestry, his red veined face and leathery hands speaking to a life lived at full speed, and when I pass him on the street, smoking in his portable wheel chair, there’s always time for a few words about the Canucks, or the weather, or whatever the hell.  It’s a lovely moment, and he always leaves me feeling better than before I saw him.  There’s the beautiful aroma floating from the Pho restaurant on the ground floor of my building; or the bread baking at the high end bakery near my office.  There’s fresh air, lots of it, and a real sense for the weather. 

It's not all nice, tho, on the inside of the car. How do you make your average nice person into an dick? Give them a set of car keys.

Think about the last time you gave someone the finger.  Pretty good chance you were behind the wheel.  An act that might get you punched in the face on a sidewalk can be a regular occurrence behind the wheel. 

Walking, on the other hand, is meditative.  You can get lost in your thoughts, in a good way. Some days, I set off to my destination, and then I arrive, not even aware of the passage of time.  Walking is also a lovely thing to do with a friend, or your kid, or your partner.  It’s a stress-free place to talk, or not talk.  To just be together, watching the world roll by.

And, if you find you’ve had enough of the weather, or walking, or dealing with the menacing exterior of cars, you can call an Uber.  And then experience the soothing inside of a car.