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Erin Smith
Joined: 26 Mar 2008 07:13 am
Posts: 1
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Posted: 26 Mar 2008 08:29 am
Post Subject: Re: Drivers and pedestrians Read Article
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I certainly don't disagree that Tyler drivers are awful, but I do know there are way too many people that cross the road where they shouldn't be.
Yesterdays accident happened when it was still pitch black outside. I drove by right after it happened. I thought it was another car accident. To me it looked like the pedestrian must have crossed in front of the Sonic(or in the general area).
When there are headlights coming from both directions, it is hard to see pedestrians.
I do know however, that it will only be a matter of time before this happens in front of ETMC. Alot of medical staff cross Beckham (less than a block from a redlight) when it is still very dark outside. I have to use the turning lane and have already had a couple close calls. They stand in the turning lane and wait on traffic to clear. It is hard to see someone when there are multiple cars coming from the opposite direction(headlights on). I even strain to look for people in the morning and still some of them seem to appear out of nowhere when I get close.
I live on a curvey country road. There is a couple who walks often, they walk side by side and on the wrong side of the road. I have to drive on the wrong side of the road to pass them b/c they will not move out of the way! It is so aggravating! One day I think I will stop and say something, doubt they will care though! It will probably take a head on collision around a corner or someone running off the road to get their attention!
I believe MOST of the pedestrian/auto accidents are avoidable. There are too many pedestrians that walk on the wrong side of the road, and cross where they shouldn't. Most of the stories I read about pedestians being hit are ones that are not following the law. You wouldn't pass another car in a no passing zone. Don't jaywalk across a busy highway when it is pitch black outside(or any other time for that matter), and walk against traffic not with it!!
And yes, Tyler drivers need to slow down and relax!! Sometimes I think Loop 323 is a Nascar track! 
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Chris Carson
Joined: 19 Feb 2008 08:13 am
Posts: 8
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Posted: 26 Mar 2008 09:13 am
Post Subject: Re: Drivers and pedestrians
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Amen!
I think that using the crosswalk especially by the hospitals should be enforced! I sometimes drive past the hospitals on my way home, and it doesn't matter what time of day it is, there is always someone crossing the road without using the crosswalk. Maybe one of them will have to get hit by a car before the message is sent out to the rest of them how dangerous it is. You would think that these people, most of whom hold a job in nursing, would have the common sense to do that! I just don't understand it.
And I also agree about the loop! I work on the WSW and I can here cars and motorcycles go by or I'll see them and I know that have to be going about 60! Its just not worth my life or someone else's life to be driving so carelessly. I'll see so many people doing stupid stuff that at the moment I see them I wish I were a cop and slap them with a traffic violation!
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Shane Fox
Joined: 27 Feb 2008 02:51 pm
Posts: 6
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Posted: 26 Mar 2008 01:11 pm
Post Subject: Re: Drivers and pedestrians
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Solutions to problematic situations are not always either/or. We do not have to settle for it being such. We always have a host of options and alternatives available to us.
The medical center area is certainly one where options and opportunity meet need. A couple of writers have noted here that workers crossing the road in that area present hazards. Yep, I agree. Posting an officer dishing out lunch-time tickets would slow the problem for the nonce. However, the problem could be solved by a partnership between the city and employers in construction of pedestrian overpasses at key points. Other options could involve jitneys or shuttles. Or, a combination of those things!
Parking and traffic issues already present some very significant problems for older people at that facility. Not all those people trying to make their way through the traffic tie-ups on foot are younger workers. Quite a few are older patients and older persons making hospital visits.
The failure is that the taxpayers of Smith County and Tyler have not insisted on bicycle lanes, pedestrian walkways, pedestrian overpasses and underpasses, and pedestrian enabled push-button controls at walkway intersections.
It is this failure, which is contributory to pedestrian/motor vehicle accidents, along with the overly aggressive drivers and lack of public awareness. When one sees a police car nosing into a downtown crosswalk as pedestrians are in that crosswalk in accordance with the walk sign, one knows that public education is lacking, and, that there is a cultural acceptance of vehicles having precedence over vulnerable pedestrians. I will remind everyone, that many of those pedestrians are older citizens who require more time to cross than do younger people. A car bumper at their heels does not assist them in overcoming this.
And, I would like to remind all that pedestrians pay taxes and are citizens and deserve the full benefit of those things as much as do motorists. And, certainly, at some point virtually all of us interchange those roles.
No one, that I'm aware of, advocates jay-walking or dashing through traffic on foot or any other violation of the law. But, I am advocating an awareness campaign of respect for foot and bicycle traffic, and for the police to take a lead in changing the culture rather than participating in it. And, under the category of you get what you ask for, citizens to take a greater interest in the problem and demand (yes, thats permitted--we get to demand things of our elected officials) that the city, county and other vested interests work together in finding creative solutions.
If we can generate the money for those absurd barricades dividing 323, we can find the money for bicycle lanes, pedestrian walkways, proper pedestrian controls at intersections, pedestrian underpasses or overpasses, and; better efforts to coordinate lights to facilitate North/South, East/West traffic flow, rather than impeding it by insisting that traffic stops at every light as it flows through town---which, I suspect, adds to the frustration of driving in Tyler and contributes to impatient drivers who are part of the endangerment to pedestrians.
Shane Fox
Vice President/Community Organizations
Texas Alliance for Retired Americans.
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