Can somebody please enlighten me? WTF is so difficult about walking on a sidewalk?

[davsand]

WHY am I seeing so many people walking down the middle of the damn street instead of on the sidewalk? I get that people don't always scoop the sidewalks in winter, but this is freaking September in Illinois--there is NO snow or ice to contend with. WHY are you walking down the middle of the street? WHY are you giving me mean looks when I drive up in my car and have to stop while you leisurely STROLL out of the way? Cars belong on streets, pedestrians belong on sidewalks. How difficult is it to master this concept?

End of rant. How was YOUR day?




Laura

[NYC_SKP]

1. It's an expression of territorial dominance.

It's existed in my neck of the wood for at least 20 years.

Nothing wrong with the sidewalks at all, it just seems to be "cool" to walk out in the street.

[davsand]

11. Can't they just piss on the trees?

Wouldn't that be safer for everyone?



Laura

[TreasonousBastard]

2. I saw two guys today walking in the street with a perfectly good unused sidewalk...

RIGHT THERE! My first thought was to run the bastards down, but that would be wrong. Then I thought to lean on the horn and scream at them to get on the fucking sidewalk, but that would be silly and annoy more people.

I've been told that in some neighborhoods you walk down the middle of the street to reduce the chance of attack. Other neighborhoods have cracked, lousy, holed, and occasionally disappearing sidewalks so just stay in the street.

[davsand]

7. I've walked this neighborhood and I can tell you the sidewalks are fine.

I've pounded this pavement more than once walking my precinct, and I can tell you that the sidewalks are not in bad shape. This is a residential area in a town of about 40,000. It isn't the most affluent area, but in broad daylight at 4 in the afternoon there is no threat to anybody (except maybe to assholes walking down the middle of the street.) I have started to almost fantasize about "car bowling" as my husband calls it. He's a little more hard core than I am, I guess--he grew up in Metro/East St. Louis.

Sure as shit, if I start honking and screaming at the offensive ones I'm gonna walk out some morning and either not find my car or maybe find it turned into scrap metal. Some asshole already almost blew it up on the 4th of July with a mis-aimed rocket. We live in an area of mixed rednecks and gangsta pretenders...






Laura

[Incitatus]

3. Sometimes you can get really close before they notice and blast the horn.

[hedgehog]

15. It's wonderful when they are using the cell phone, texting or listening

to something on earphones!

[blogslut]

4. My town is 85% sidewalk-free

I hate it. Homeowners have to get permission from the city and pay some stupid fee to get a sidewalk in front of their house - so they just go without. It's hell for people like me who walk everywhere.

[davsand]

10. Yep. Sidewalks are there purely for pedestrian traffic.

They are an excellent thing and I do not understand why people do not use them when they are in place and fully functional.





Laura

[schmice]

5. Get an air horn. The type they use on 18 wheelers.

Next time you have to wait for these dummies to get out of the way, give them a long loud blast and watch as they lose their mud and disgrace themselves in their pants.

[davsand]

9. Lord knows the wimpy horn on my Dodge could use a little testosterone.

It's a disgrace to car horns, I tell ya!




Laura

[alphafemale]

17. Train horn has always been a major WANT for me.

BBWWWAAAAAAOOOOONNNN!!!!

Now that I got you attention....

lol

[loli phabay]

6. itsits zombies your meant to run them over.

[davsand]

8. We watched some alien invasion movie recently where they did that.

Vehicular warfare--and I bet it got cheers when it was in the theaters.



Laura

[madinmaryland]

12. Is it because people in Illinois let their dogs shit on the sidewalks??

That's all I can come up with.

[davsand]

18. No, I can't say I've seen too many doggie landmines around.

We have a pooper scooper ordinance, and from what I can tell the local pet owners must take it seriously enough. It seems like an awful lot of them are carrying the little plastic poop bags when they go out for walkies. I honestly do not blame the resident doggies (or their humans) for the foot traffic in the street.



Laura

[baldguy]

13. Because they care about their mothers, obviously.

And don't want to harm their mothers' backs inadvertently.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

14. I'm in the burbs west of O'hare and I think I've posted on this same topic.

Strange phenomenon the last few years. Teen and pre-teen boys sauntering down the middle of the
street while perfectly good sidewalks go unused. I know they're trying to be cool but and it's probably some sort of gang emulation, but I'm dying to know what movie, video game, or TV show they got it from (because they damn sure didn't get it from strutting their pasty asses around an actual tough neighborhood).

[davsand]

19. Ain't THAT the truth!

Little white boys wearing what passed for gangsta chic about ten years ago--I see it all the time. Makes me nuts. I always kinda figured it was next to impossible to be any real kind of tough guy or master criminal when your mom still drives you to school if it's raining.

I can't say it is limited to just young boys that are in the street. I'm seeing teen/adolescent girls and even women just strolling down the middle of the street. Again, I might be more sympathetic if it was at night and maybe they felt safer, but this is in broad daylight--the time for mad dogs and Englishmen--ya know?



Laura

[hedgehog]

16. Folks in my town have an intersting variation - wait until the

light changes then walk in front of the traffic that has the green light!

[davsand]

20. I'm pretty sure Darwin would have offered commentary on that one.

Just a hunch.



Laura

[bluedigger]

21. So easy my dog can do it.

Our town has random sidewalk placement on the side streets, varying from house lot to lot, and from one side of the road to the other. My dog grew up in New Orleans and always wants to use the sidewalk, so I get dragged from one side of the street to the other pretty regularly.

[Kali]

22. a thought

most sidewalks are kind of narrow - could it be the people number more than 2, or they are large?

is this a residential street or a busier area? I mean we used to PLAY in the middle of the street in quiet neighborhoods...

[trof]

23. I see the same thing.

Small town near Boston.
Big hospital nearby.
I see hospital employees walking to work, right down the middle of the street.
There are perfectly good sidewalks.
I don't get it either.

[Cronkite]

24. I notice this at stores- people walk down the center of the lanes.

People are oblivious to people trying to drive up the lanes to park. They refuse to stay to one side????

[. .]

25. So smile and wave at them.

Problem solved.