I often blog about public transportation because, well... because most of my life seems to be spent waiting at bus stops, waiting for the T, waiting to cross the street, walking to the T, standing in line waiting to pay for the T, waiting in traffic etc. So today, I was walking with Vanessa (to the T) and I was crossing the street in the most perfectly legal way; the white man was clearly lit and the harsh beep-boop sound that it makes was sounding, signaling that it was okay to cross. But as soon as I started to cross the street a biker zoomed past me at breakneck speed almost nicking the hair off my chin. It was in this moment that I realized that there exists a hierarchy of things that use the streets of Boston.
1) Buses - When I am on the bus, I feel that the bus should always have the right of way. It is the biggest, it is carrying the most amount of people, and it is supplied by the city. So it should be able to cut in wherever it wants and ignore traffic signs because everyone on the bus just wants to get where they want to go. Buses should have a giant carpool lane.
2) Cars - When I'm driving my car around Boston, I get serious road rage toward pedestrians and bikes. I yell aloud to my windshield, "I could kill you! Are you stupid?!" when they cut me off. But I never make a peep when a bus cuts me off, because I know that it could destroy my little Honda.
3) Bikes - When I ride my bike, I get angry at everyone. I get angry when I almost hit people because they only watch for cars and disregard bikes as something that could be dangerous. I get angry at cars when they don't leave room on the side of the street for me to pass by them in traffic. I even get mad at buses when I run into them (true story, biked right into the side of a silver line bus). Biking is just dangerous and packed with anger.
4) Walking - I'm the least cautious pedestrian in the world. Pedestrians are at the bottom of the hierarchy but I falsely assume that we always have the right of way and due to that fact, I have come very close to getting hit by bikes and cars. Fun fact, most pedestrians get hit at crosswalks because they think they are safe. Not true, folks. Especially not in Boston (see bike anecdote above).
2 comments:
I am the worst pedestrian ever! And not a really good driver either...I'm screwed when it comes to transportation.
Aren't we all?! It's a dangerous world out there. This may be uber-depressing, but every time I cross the street, I imagine myself getting hit by a bus...
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