| | Why you shouldn't listen to your iPod/mp3 player while crossing the street...or at least pay attention to what's going on around you...
I went to Guitar Center at Northcross Mall last Thursday after work. Coming out of the parking lot, we (me and the truck in front of me) were waiting at the red light to turn left (westbound) onto Anderson Lane. A girl walked in front of us, then dodged some cars and crossed halfway to the median on Anderson. She was on the median when the bus she was trying to catch went by without stopping because there was nobody at the bus stop and nobody needed to get off the bus. She was trying to flag the bus down and stood in front of a car that was waiting to turn left into Northcross for a few seconds (the car didn't go because traffic was still coming eastbound) and the went back to the median. Apparently disgusted, she looked up at the traffic lights, then decided to walk back in front of that car that was stopped.
Inexplicably, she then continued into the westbound lanes even though they still had a green light. It's one of those moments where you think to yourself, "Is this really happening? This is an accident waiting to happen!" Yelling at her doesn't do any good because you're inside your vehicle and she obviously wouldn't be able to hear you.
Then a car in the inside westbound lane struck her. Although it was only a glancing blow with the driver's side mirror, the force of the impact knocked her down and she was in the middle of the left lane for what felt like an eternity but was probably only about 10 seconds. Fortunately there weren't any other cars following that one. One person helped her back up and got her to the other side of the street. About six of us saw what happened and we all turned into the parking lot across the street. The impact also broke the mirror off of the car so someone went to retrieve it.
The driver of the car didn't have any time to react. It didn't look like he was speeding since the speed limit was 35. She was probably hidden from his view because she came out from in front of the stopped car that was waiting to turn left into Northcross. It was also approaching dusk so there was some (but not much) light left. He called 911 and we all waited for the ambulance, fire truck and police to arrive on the scene. We gave our statements to the police officers after they had assessed the situation. The drivers and passengers all saw the same thing - she tried to cross while she had a red hand instead of a green pedestrian, and east/westbound Anderson Lane had green lights.
Moral of the story: Pay attention to the traffic lights, especially if you're listening to your media player. Better yet, take your earphones out when you're approaching or at an intersection and you'll be able to tell what's going on around you. If you miss the bus it's not the end of the world, although for her it very well could have been, and I'm glad that she's still alive. It would have been much worse if she had been crossing the street for one more second (would have been run over by that car instead of getting hit by the mirror), if there were any cars following that one (would have been hit by the following cars), or if his car was any bigger than it was (it was a little Mazda 3 so the mirror hit her thigh - if it was a truck or SUV she would have gotten smacked in the face and that would have resulted in more injuries).
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| | Posted 1/28/2008 11:26 AM - 32 views - 3 comments
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