This morning, walking to work, corner of Gerrard and Elizabeth.
Construction on the North West corner.
One traffic policeman on site.
One asian woman crossing against the red light AND a construction truck backing up towards her, white earphones from iPod in her ears, huge wool hat and scarf.
Policeman (very loudly): Hey, idiot, what are you trying to do? Shut down the construction site for the rest of the day???
Asian Woman (timidly): I’m just crossing to go to work.
Policeman (loud and angry): Can you do me a big favour and open your eyes before you cross the street. And take those earphones plugs out of your ears while I’m talking to you.
Asian Woman (startled but still not really listening and trying to continue across)
Policeman (shouting): HEY!!!
Asian Woman (looking annoyed): What??
Policman (still shouting): Do you not see this? (pointing at the big hole on the ground and a truck now stopped) Get back on that sidewalk right now, do not take another step this way.
Asian Woman: I just need to get across!
Policeman (annoyed and looking her straight in the eyes and pointing at the opposite corner): Turn around! Get to that corner! Cross to the other side! Then go on your way. Now!
Asian Woman (looking defeated, finally giving up and walking back to the sidewalk)
I caught the policeman’s eyes and gave him a thumbs up and a smile. He shook his head in disbelief, then turn to the truck driver and motioned for him to resume backing up again.
I rolled my eyes at the Asian Woman when she passed me.
Crossing against the red light and stopping traffic.
Welcome to my world.
Only they do it with a stroller in front of a moving bus.
And the bus wins!
I once got yelled at by a cop. Actually I was in a crowd of about 3-4 people (crowd?) and we all en masse crossed against a light with no cars coming. The cop spread his arms like Jebus and said loudly
“WHAT’S A RED LIGHT FOR, PEOPLE?”
In the GTA, a red light apparently means nothing, or speed-up or just keep walking!!!! Time to bring back traffic light cameras with 50 buck tickets if the cops aren’t going to enforce the laws…a couple of 50 buck tickets will (plus a processing fee and GST/PST should be close to 100 bucks each time….)
Worked/works in many US cities….as for the foot traffic ignoring lights…there should be a disclaimer on every corner…walking against the light may get you killed.
HA!
In Las Vegas they now have these talking crosswalks where it counts down the seconds until you get hit by a car.
It’s quite exciting, especially when watching the old folks speed up when it gets down to five seconds.
All the action of normal hit-and-run, with half the guilt! What the hell… It told them how much time they had to clear!
And that said, how often do blind people just wander around Las Vegas?
BD: I think each buses should have a policeman or traffic cop on board giving tickets to all idiots to do that, double fine if there’s child involved. Instead of a raise a the next collective agreement bargaining, you guys should request that… Imagine how nice people would be in the buses too?
L: we have that system all over town here too and we’re turning into lazy walkers because of it… 8 seconds??? There’s no way I can cross the street in 8 seconds… It’s a different attitude here in the north, we wait, we don’t try to run for it… ah, there’ll be another green light.
FW: They have brought back the red light cameras, most people only find out when they get a nice ticket in the mail. I love how people try to defend themselves out of that saying stuff like: it’s not a proper picture, it obviously a photocopy. Are they expecting Polaroids???
DR: I’ll see you at home, we can discuss.
You are an Asian hater.