Further Adventures of James in the Big Smoke - Pedestrian Rage!!!
Well, today started out like any other day in Van. It was pissing rain and it was past noon, good start to my day. I needed to get some more bus tickets so I figured I would stop by Safeway on the way to the bus stop for work. I also figured I could kill two birds with one stone and get my coke fix at Safeway as well. That's when things started to sour, first there were no 1L or 710mL bottles of Coke at Safeway. Fine, I'll pick up a bottle at Mac's on the way to the bus stop, but first my bus tickets. Well the Customer Service desk was out of tickets and a manager had to go get some more. 10 minutes later, I finally had my bus tickets, so I head off to the bus stop.
As I approach Mac's I can see that my bus has already left. Fuck! Now I'm going to be late, well if I'm late I might as well have my Coke too. So I grab my Coke from Mac's and head over to the other bus stop to catch the other bus. The 5 drops me off in front of work, the 6 (the other bus) drops me off two blocks from work, but close enough. So I catch the 6 and head off to work. Everything is fine, rush hour is just starting but the bus moves along nicely, even with herds of people getting on & off.
My stop comes and I get off, the rain has let up a bit so I don't bother with my umbrella. I get to the intersection of Granville and Robson where the light is green to cross Granville, although with the Canada Line construction the color of the light is moot for the North side of the street. Unless some idiot wants to crash their car into a giant pit. I notice that traffic is a bit backed up on Robson, since there are two cars sitting in the intersection waiting to go west on Robson. The light changes and now the little man says that I can cross Robson, but there is a problem, there is a mini-van straddling the fucking crosswalk. Hmmm, which way should I go, in front of the van or behind the van. Well this other guy makes a decision before me and ducks in front of the van. Okay, decision made, I will follow him. At this point the traffic begins to move on Robson, just as I go to step in front of this van he starts to move forward. Hello!!!! Pedestrians crossing here, reminds me of a line from a movie "Hey!!! I'm WOKIN' here!!!" Now I'm not the only pedestrian trying to cross at this point and since my left knee is now in jeaprody I give the hood of the van a whack with my empty hand. The van stops and I continue to cross. Of course while I'm crossing I give the guy the "what's up" signal, you know shrugged shoulders, palms upraised, arms spread. Now as I finish passing the van I hear the guy driving smack his window, so I turn around making the assumption he has just fingered me. He seems to be pissed at me because I delayed him, smacked his van, had the audacity to cross the street, I don't really know and nor do I care, but now I'm pissed. So I start walking back to the van and he goes to open his door but now I'm in the way and he can't. I then start yelling at him index finger out thrust and rapping on his side window. I believe my words were "YOU'RE IN THE FUCKING CROSSWALK!!! YOU'RE IN THE FUCKING WRONG!!!" I then pushed his door closed and walked away.
I would like to point out sections of the motor vehicle act that give me the righteous indignation to yell at this ass. Section 179 of Part 3 of the MVA states:
Rights of way between
vehicle and pedestrian
179. (1.) Subject to section 180, the driver of a vehicle must yield the right of way to a pedestrian where traffic control signals are not in place or not in operation when the pedestrian is crossing the highway in a crosswalk and the pedestrian is on the half of the highway on which the vehicle is travelling, or is approaching so closely from the other half of the highway that he or she is in danger.
(2.) A pedestrian must not leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehicle that is so close it is impracticable for the driver to yield the right of way.
(3.) If a vehicle is slowing down or stopped at a crosswalk or at an intersection to permit a pedestrian to cross the highway, the driver of a vehicle approaching from the rear must not overtake and pass the vehicle that is slowing down or stopped.
(4.) A pedestrian, cyclist or the driver of a motor vehicle must obey the instructions of an adult school crossing guard and of a school student acting as a member of a traffic patrol where the guards or students are
(a) provided under the School Act, or
(b) authorized by the chief of police of the municipality as defined in section 36 (1).
And Section 189, Subsection 1C of Part 3 of the MVA:
When vehicle stopping prohibited
189. (1.) Except when necessary to avoid conflict with traffic or to comply with the law or the directions of a peace officer or traffic control device, a person must not stop, stand or park a vehicle as follows:
(c) in an intersection, except as permitted by a sign;
In short, he shouldn't have been in the intersection when the light changed and secondly as a pedestrian obeying the traffic control device I had the right of way, so thppppppppt!!
This rage that seems to be bubbling just below the surface in me needs a better outlet. Maybe I just need to get laid more often. Daydreaming about pushing people into glass display cases because they are walking down the middle of the aisle in the mall is probably not the healthiest. Resisting the urge to say "GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY" instead of "excuse me" is also probably not the best either. I should probably make some changes to my life, reducing the number of times I watch Fight Club and listen to the Fight Club OST would probably be a good starting point. We'll see... we'll see...
As I approach Mac's I can see that my bus has already left. Fuck! Now I'm going to be late, well if I'm late I might as well have my Coke too. So I grab my Coke from Mac's and head over to the other bus stop to catch the other bus. The 5 drops me off in front of work, the 6 (the other bus) drops me off two blocks from work, but close enough. So I catch the 6 and head off to work. Everything is fine, rush hour is just starting but the bus moves along nicely, even with herds of people getting on & off.
My stop comes and I get off, the rain has let up a bit so I don't bother with my umbrella. I get to the intersection of Granville and Robson where the light is green to cross Granville, although with the Canada Line construction the color of the light is moot for the North side of the street. Unless some idiot wants to crash their car into a giant pit. I notice that traffic is a bit backed up on Robson, since there are two cars sitting in the intersection waiting to go west on Robson. The light changes and now the little man says that I can cross Robson, but there is a problem, there is a mini-van straddling the fucking crosswalk. Hmmm, which way should I go, in front of the van or behind the van. Well this other guy makes a decision before me and ducks in front of the van. Okay, decision made, I will follow him. At this point the traffic begins to move on Robson, just as I go to step in front of this van he starts to move forward. Hello!!!! Pedestrians crossing here, reminds me of a line from a movie "Hey!!! I'm WOKIN' here!!!" Now I'm not the only pedestrian trying to cross at this point and since my left knee is now in jeaprody I give the hood of the van a whack with my empty hand. The van stops and I continue to cross. Of course while I'm crossing I give the guy the "what's up" signal, you know shrugged shoulders, palms upraised, arms spread. Now as I finish passing the van I hear the guy driving smack his window, so I turn around making the assumption he has just fingered me. He seems to be pissed at me because I delayed him, smacked his van, had the audacity to cross the street, I don't really know and nor do I care, but now I'm pissed. So I start walking back to the van and he goes to open his door but now I'm in the way and he can't. I then start yelling at him index finger out thrust and rapping on his side window. I believe my words were "YOU'RE IN THE FUCKING CROSSWALK!!! YOU'RE IN THE FUCKING WRONG!!!" I then pushed his door closed and walked away.
I would like to point out sections of the motor vehicle act that give me the righteous indignation to yell at this ass. Section 179 of Part 3 of the MVA states:
Rights of way between
vehicle and pedestrian
179. (1.) Subject to section 180, the driver of a vehicle must yield the right of way to a pedestrian where traffic control signals are not in place or not in operation when the pedestrian is crossing the highway in a crosswalk and the pedestrian is on the half of the highway on which the vehicle is travelling, or is approaching so closely from the other half of the highway that he or she is in danger.
(2.) A pedestrian must not leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehicle that is so close it is impracticable for the driver to yield the right of way.
(3.) If a vehicle is slowing down or stopped at a crosswalk or at an intersection to permit a pedestrian to cross the highway, the driver of a vehicle approaching from the rear must not overtake and pass the vehicle that is slowing down or stopped.
(4.) A pedestrian, cyclist or the driver of a motor vehicle must obey the instructions of an adult school crossing guard and of a school student acting as a member of a traffic patrol where the guards or students are
(a) provided under the School Act, or
(b) authorized by the chief of police of the municipality as defined in section 36 (1).
And Section 189, Subsection 1C of Part 3 of the MVA:
When vehicle stopping prohibited
189. (1.) Except when necessary to avoid conflict with traffic or to comply with the law or the directions of a peace officer or traffic control device, a person must not stop, stand or park a vehicle as follows:
(c) in an intersection, except as permitted by a sign;
In short, he shouldn't have been in the intersection when the light changed and secondly as a pedestrian obeying the traffic control device I had the right of way, so thppppppppt!!
This rage that seems to be bubbling just below the surface in me needs a better outlet. Maybe I just need to get laid more often. Daydreaming about pushing people into glass display cases because they are walking down the middle of the aisle in the mall is probably not the healthiest. Resisting the urge to say "GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY" instead of "excuse me" is also probably not the best either. I should probably make some changes to my life, reducing the number of times I watch Fight Club and listen to the Fight Club OST would probably be a good starting point. We'll see... we'll see...
posted by James at 11:45 PM
1 Comments:
I hate crosswalks
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