I’m all for pedestrian safety, but I believe the pedestrians need to pay more attention to what they are doing.

When I was young we were taught to stop, look and listen before we stepped off the curb. We were also taught that a 4,000- or 5,000-pound vehicle could possibly cause us some discomfort and pain. I can’t count the number of times I have seen pedestrians walk out into oncoming traffic without even a glance. It is the attention paid by the drivers that saved an accident.

This happens very often by younger kids and of course, high school kids. For some reason the kids have been given the wrong information. They seem to think a driver can mysteriously determine when they want to cross or what they want to do.

Sometimes it is a game for them. I watched as three young people stopped at a crosswalk on Newmark Street and pressed the button to stop traffic. All traffic stopped on a four lane street. A total of nine cars stopped. When all had stopped the three kids, a girl and two boys, laughed and turned around and ran the opposite direction. They found it to be fun to have the power to stop traffic.

It even happens in parking lots. People walk out of a store with their head in the shopping bag or in the clouds and walk right in front of a moving vehicle without looking. The vehicle has to stop, which is a good thing, but the pedestrian gives a look that says, “You dumb blankety blank, look where you are going,” when it was them who didn’t look.

And another thing is the evening pedestrian. I have come close to harming someone because they crossed the highway in an unlighted section between crosswalks wearing dark colored clothing, which makes it almost impossible to see them.

The police are watching for the drivers. Don’t you think it is about time to educate the pedestrian as much as the driver? Some of the pedestrians need to be issued citations also.

Len Roe

Coos Bay