I appreciate that Maine’s very protective pedestrian laws were created after a disabled person was killed in a Brunswick crosswalk, and I do want to keep pedestrians safe. After all, I’m often on foot myself. I frequently cross streets — even busy state roads — as I walk to a coffee shop or post office. 

At the same time, as a driver, I find too many pedestrians behave in ways that endanger both them and me. I’ve jammed on my brakes twice in two days to avoid hitting pedestrians. Neither the one crossing alone, or the three crossing as a group so much as looked toward traffic before walking into it, apparently relying on the protective power of pavement paint.

I’ve braked suddenly to avoid a pedestrian who kept his eyes on his cellphone as he crossed a traffic lane. Once, while making a left turn, I even had to stop at an angle across two lanes of traffic, because a pedestrian group began crossing a side street without looking to see if a vehicle was turning in.

Maine’s pedestrian fatalities are cause for concern, but so is the careless pedestrian behavior that makes them hard to avoid. Unlike today’s pedestrians, I was trained to “Stop, Look and Listen!” before crossing streets. The parents of my generation knew that vehicles can do much more damage to careless pedestrians than any pedestrian could do to a vehicle.

It’s time for pedestrians to begin doing their part to avoid collisions with vehicles.

Carlene Hill Byron
Topsham