So the APD wants to make road safety a priority. (The News, Jan.29)
Really? I have yet to see a police officer haul a cyclist off the sidewalk or pull over a driver when they fly through an occupied crosswalk. It just does not happen.
Pedestrians are the lowest form of life in our traffic food chain.
These issues don’t make the headlines like drugs and gangs do.
As a pedestrian, I have seen the police drive right by clear traffic infractions involving pedestrians. It is just not important to them and I doubt it ever will be.
I have written both the city and the police department letters about my safety issues as a pedestrian, and nothing has come of it.
Indeed, I watched with frustration and a bit of amusement as the APD bike patrol rode around Mill Lake Park on a Friday afternoon last June on the sidewalk, right alongside an unused bike lane.
Unfortunately, pedestrians have been their own worst enemies, veering off the sidewalk to allow passage for illegal cyclists and waiting for cars at crosswalks, even though by law it is the other way around.
Pedestrians acting legally must insist that the law be enforced, and that police insist that drivers and cyclists also act legally.
Walking to and from work should not be a life-threatening activity.
Ken Ambrose, Abbotsford
