The story in the Wisconsin State Journal today is that the girl crossed despite the "Do Not Walk" light, therefore, Madison police spokesman said the 57-year-old driver of the car won't be ticketed.... The collision occurred about 12:15 pm yesterday, while the girl was on her lunch break -- which many Memorial students take at West Town Mall's food court across Gammon Road from the school.
The article states that "Madison Police Capt. Dam McLay said that while traffic laws give pedestrians the right-of-way in uncontrolled crosswalks, pedestrians must yield to the "do not walk" light at controlled crossings."
This parallels the situation we're discussing on "night bicycling", where the car driver is being exonerated from blame because the bicyclist didn't have lights and wasn't wearing reflective clothing.
Matt Logan said it best: "many drive as if there is an infinitely
long stretch of defect-free pavement in front of them that is guaranteed
to be occupied only by other motor vehicles traveling in an entirely
predictable fashion", and "The Police generally aren't in the business of trying to change the
culture... In fact, they sometimes promote this culture."
The same situation obviously applies here according to McLay. Despite hundreds of students most likely being out and about during the noon hour, motor vehicle drivers have the Madison Police Department's permission now to just sail through the intersection at Mineral Point Road and Gammon without even bothering to look to the side of the road to see if a pedestrian (including those too young to know the rules or blind pedestrians) might be attempting to cross.
No wonder Madison car drivers are so oblivious to everything around them that doesn't have four wheels and adheres to the rules of the road.
Mike Neuman
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