By Joe Baur
The following is a public service announcement.
It seems Clevelanders of all stripes have forgotten cars can cause more destruction to pedestrians than pedestrians to cars. Any soul with a flickering light left in their brain stem would agree this is common knowledge. After all, midsized cars can weigh anywhere between 3,000 to 5,000 pounds. Trucks and SUVs will obviously tip the scales even more. While Americans are notoriously and increasingly obese, no one literally weighs a ton.
Yet we still have a problem with motorists assuming pedestrians are the problem and not vice verse. I know this because I’ve encountered many a sulking, defiant, and contorted faces along the streets of Downtown Cleveland.
“God dammit!” I can see them mouth with a glare that would indicate I have inflicted upon them the most gravest of inconveniences known to man – having to wait a moment longer.
The problem is deeply cultural. We are a nation of drivers, and despite many improvements, we are still a city of drivers.
I know this because of the number of pedestrians I have seen waiting at crosswalks that demand cars to yield to pedestrians. Rather than take to the street, they observe as cars fly by well over the speed limit. Being a more aggressive pedestrian, I have no problem taking what is mine. So I pass the pedestrians waiting for cars to drive by, forcing angry drivers to observe the yield signs in plain sight, namely on Euclid Avenue and East 6th.
Again, I get the look. The look that says I have committed some felonious crime by walking on my pedestrian crosswalk.
“What the Hell are you doing?” I can sense drivers wondering as I force them to acknowledge the law. “I’m driving here!”
It’s clear we need to be more aggressive as pedestrians in Downtown Cleveland. I’m not suggesting we take to hopping on the hoods of cars or smacking taillights with the palm of our hand as they try to hurry around on a tight left turn (guilty). But there needs to be a cultural shift. And the shift will not happen if we do not demand it.
Too often my girlfriend Melanie has come home from a jog around Downtown with a story about how a car hurrying onto the freeway almost hit her when she had the right of way. I myself have experienced too often cars trying to split the gap between groups of pedestrians when turning right on red.
Where did this incessant impatience come from? I know it’s in our American blood to do things and to do those things fast. But at what point did we stop acknowledging the potential hazard cars are to pedestrians? All we have is our skin and bones to protect us.
Again, this isn’t a call to pedestrians to break any laws. This is merely a call for pedestrians to insist cars observe their right to the streets of Cleveland. This is just a friendly reminder to downtown drivers that we exist.
Joe Baur is a freelance writer, filmmaker and satirist with a diverse array of interests including travel, adventure, craft beer, health, urban issues, culture and politics. He ranks his allegiances in the order of Cleveland, the state of Ohio and the Rust Belt, and enjoys a fried egg on a variety of meats. Joe has a B.A. in Mass Communication with a focus on production from Miami University. Follow him at http://JoeBaur.com and on Twitter @MildlyRelevant.