Relocating to Baltimore and scared as hell!!!! (Columbia, Dundalk: house, condos)

[emsgoof]

Doubt it...

[guest2]

Originally Posted by stillnewlyweds

oh, by the way...they were not in the crosswalk....NOT IN THE CROSSWALK...maybe now that the 16 yr. old bobby pin thrower took a ride to baby jail she had time to reflect on her bad choices....

stillnewlyweds, sorry to hear of your encounter with the girls. When I first moved here three years ago, I might have reacted similarly. Then I had the revelation that it was me, not them. The attitudes I brought with me from a different part of the country were preventing me from adapting to life here.

Frankly, since jaywalking is the norm, it made more sense to learn how to yield, and live to fight another day on more important battles.

I wish you peace-of-mind in York, PA.

[nanlev]

I see this happen ALL THE TIME in Baltimore City. I just slow down and let these ignorant people cross. Would you have done the same if they were teenage/adult men vs. teenage girls? Perhaps one of them would have been armed. Why even risk it with your young children in the car? And of course the grandmother would respond that way, look at what she's raised. Also, when driving through the "bad parts" of any city, my windows are usually up and doors locked.

Originally Posted by stillnewlyweds

Just thought I would post a lil update about good old Baltimore. Three days ago while driving with my husband, son and 8mth old infant...4 teenage girls were jay walking RIGHT INTO THE LANE OF MOVING TRAFFIC. I had the green light so I continued driving...because I refused to yield to them weaving in and out of moving cars...I blew my horn at them....what do you think they did...cussed at me, and threw bobby hair pins with the plastic coated tips rips off...into my vehicle striking my baby in the face. I spun my vehicle around and my husband and son chased them down on foot...where to? Right into the homes they lived in. One girl jumped through a window..the others hid in the bushes. We waited on the front porch, with the naive and angry grandparents of the juvenile, in DENIAL. I called the cops and waited until they were all cuffed and a confession out of the guilty party was out. WHAT DOES THE GRANDMOTHER SAY?????? "THE BABY AINT EVEN HURT, LET IT GO".....No I am not letting it go, it could have been a glass bottle, what if next time it's a rock...or a stick??????????


Two days later now I get in the mail a lovely letter from the Juvenile District...."we are not pressing charges..." BULL.

[MobtownManiac]

Originally Posted by NoHometoCallMyOwn

In the middle of heavy traffic you often can't decelerate much, much less stop, or you will be hit from behind.

So? Where the hell did you get your driver's license? High school drivers' Ed CLEARLY covers these scenarios:

1. A dog runs into the street. Do you swerve into the car in the lane next to you to avoid hitting the dog or do you decelerate & hit the dog to avoid human casualty?

(answer: decelerate & hit the dog)

2. A child runs into the street. Do you swerve into the car in the lane next to you to avoid hitting the child or do you decelerate & hit the child?

(answer: avoid hitting the child at all costs)

If decelerating gets you rear-ended, you're being tailgated. That's the fault of the driver behind you, not yours or the jaywalkers. There is no "heavy traffic" excuse for rear-ending someone, nor is there a "heavy traffic" excuse for hitting a pedestrian.

Originally Posted by emsgoof

And FOR THE RECORD.... the pedestrians MUST follow THE LAW... MUST...

Thanks for missing the point: their defenselessness as pedestrians supercedes your right-of-way in your 2-ton SUV. Always.

Any of you self-righteous road ragers picked up on the fact that I'm not defending jaywalking yet? Anybody? *crickets*

Originally Posted by stillnewlyweds

oh, by the way...they were not in the crosswalk....NOT IN THE CROSSWALK...

They weren't in the crosswalk yet you had the green light? What a strange non-intersection you must have been driving through.

[NoHometoCallMyOwn]

Originally Posted by MobtownManiac

There is no "heavy traffic" excuse for rear-ending someone, nor is there a "heavy traffic" excuse for hitting a pedestrian.

There is such a thing as having no reasonable chance to react at all or even to having a reasonable chance to see them so that you can react.

[MobtownManiac]

Originally Posted by NoHometoCallMyOwn

There is such a thing as having no reasonable chance to react at all or even to having a reasonable chance to see them so that you can react.

Sure there is. But, unfortunately for your argument, that scenario doesn't apply to the described event. We're discussing a woman who refused to decelerate, remember?

[emsgoof]

I think the discussion has morphed from the original episode into a generalization...
I do see more jaywalkers in Baltimore than any other city I've been to. And they dare you to run in to them (ie- looking right at you while they step in front of you in the middle of the block!)

[nanlev]

Yeah, it's amazing. Although, I do see it in DC too, in the less desirable parts of town. I just bite my lip, curse them under my breath, while slowing down to let them pass. What's even more amazing is they don't even pick up their pace, they walk VERY slow.

I guess the BPD have their hands full with all the homicides and don't have time to hand out tickets for jaywalking. As a new resident of the city, I'd rather they focus their efforts on violent and property crime, rather than jaywalking anyway.

Originally Posted by emsgoof

I think the discussion has morphed from the original episode into a generalization...
I do see more jaywalkers in Baltimore than any other city I've been to. And they dare you to run in to them (ie- looking right at you while they step in front of you in the middle of the block!)

[Rikrich]

Originally Posted by gprokop

I've lived 2 blocks from Patterson Park since 1994. I am a physician on the faculty at Johns Hopkins. While Baltimore certainly has crime and grime, it is also quite liveable and it has improved tremendously over the last 10 years. It is not like the suburbs, but people who are looking for that shouldn't look in the city.

QUESTION DOC, IS THE HOMICIDE RATE STILL HIGH? I WAS A RESIDENT OF BALTIMORE CITY FROM 1990-99 and left the area five years ago this September.

[Rikrich]

Originally Posted by nanlev

I see this happen ALL THE TIME in Baltimore City. I just slow down and let these ignorant people cross. Would you have done the same if they were teenage/adult men vs. teenage girls? Perhaps one of them would have been armed. Why even risk it with your young children in the car? And of course the grandmother would respond that way, look at what she's raised. Also, when driving through the "bad parts" of any city, my windows are usually up and doors locked.

I saw it quite frequently when I lived in Baltimore City when I lived there from 1990 to 1999. That is just one of the reasons why I got out of there. Sorry you had to go thru that, but I was neither shocked nor surprised. I agree with the first person who responded, WHAT IF they had been teenage or adult males? It might have been worse.