By Jerry Riley

I’m a walker. I like to think about columns as I walk and sometimes I see things that people need to think about. At the intersection of 117 & 24 in Eureka, I have to be very careful crossing the highway. I can’t count on drivers to obey the law – and what a revoltin’ development that is!

Last summer I was knocked down by a car whose driver was turning right.
He was so busy looking left, watching for traffic, he didn’t look in front of his car, so he knocked me to the pavement.
That may be the reason I am so concerned with safety. Over the past few days I have noticed an increasing number of vehicles, cars, trucks and, even semis, run red lights. Not race through amber or yellow light but enter the intersection on the red! Accidents waiting to happen. I’ve seen cross traffic start to cross when they have the green light, only to have to slam on their breaks.
I think most of the red light runners just don’t use the amber light as a reminder to slow down and prepare to stop. They may misjudge the time of yellow light and, when it turns red just can’t stop.
I’d like to tell the people who yell at me from their cars because the walk light is flashing. The walk signal stays lit for ten seconds before it starts flashing, I doubt anyone can walk across the highway during that time. Then the walk signal flashes for thirty seconds. When the “Don’t Walk” signal is steadily lit, I usually don’t cross. I say usually because sometime during the winter, there is too much snow piled up, making it unsafe for me to get to the button, but, I still cross with the green.
School has started, so there are children on the street. Smaller children do not always think of traffic when they come to a street or alley.
Older kids may just be defiant, because pedestrians have the right of way. This is the law.

Jerry Riley is an occasional commentator for the News Bulletin. He is a retired telecommunications supervisor.