Editor:
While walking to Semiahmoo Shopping Centre on 16 Avenue, I arrived at the intersection at Martin Street.
The traffic light was green and the pedestrian hand was red.
I stopped and pressed the button to cross when safe to do so. The hand turned white, and I paused to take a moment to ensure eye contact with the driver of a vehicle which had just stopped to my left before proceeding.
A week earlier, I had witnessed a pedestrian push a crossing button at a mall access road intersection with a green traffic light for 152 Street traffic, and have the hand turn from red to white. With back initially to the vehicle, the elderly person took a step from the curb as the vehicle proceeded around the corner into the shopping centre. The pedestrian appeared to be OK with this brush with death and carried on.
It was a concern/problem I’d forgotten about, until my own experience a week later.
An expressionless driver, who’d probably seen the red hand initially, too, was looking away from me across the street to the left before steering to the right in front of traffic. While still looking to the left, the driver suddenly stepped on it – directly in front of me.
I just caught the driver looking to the right as I bellowed “Hey!” into an open passenger-side window, and then there was the screech of brakes.
An oncoming vehicle on 16 Avenue had hit the brakes to barely avoid rear-ending the car, and then leaned on the horn.
Dave Jensen, White Rock
