Snow and Pedestrians on the Street (Columbia: how much, houses, neighborhoods)

[santafe400]

Hey guys!

After the latest one-two punch of winter weather that recently hit our region, I as many others have noticed a rash of pedestrians walking along main arteries due to snow and ice covered walkways. Certainly, I understand the necessity to walk on the street in such adverse conditions. However the risk from getting to wherever these folks needs to go does not seem to warrant the life-threatening risk that many of these pedestrians are doing, especially with their backs turned away from traffic on several congested and well-traveled arteries. As a driver, it makes me especially nervous as I've had to slam on my breaks on several occasions to stop and attempt to move over a lane to avoid hitting these folks.

Maybe it's just me, but the thought of huffing it through the snow with a slight risk of slipping, is much more reassuring than walking blindly on a major roadway risking certain death.

Does anyone else feel the same way?

[Patz0709]

You are right that walking in the traffic lines is nerve racking for both the pedestrian and the driver; probably the only thing worse would be slipping off one of those sidewalks/ice dunes into the path of an unsuspecting motorist. YIKES!! (Thankfully the rain and sun today is doing a job on many of them.)

[hiker16]

Or perhaps the state could require homeowners to clear the snow off sidewalks within a reasonable amount of time- 24-48 hrs. And ENFORCE the requriemnt.

Most northeastern states do this (I come from New England-- and Maryland's attitude towards snow removal (on roads and sidewalks) leaves much to be desired.

[AeroGuyDC]

Saw a girl the other day walking towards me in my lane of travel. I barely hit the brakes...intentionally gave her all of 2 feet (max). I knew I wasn't going to hit her....but I sure hope it scared the **** out of her. She shouldn't have been walking in high heels....perhaps then she could have navigated the snowy sidewalks.

[AeroGuyDC]

Originally Posted by hiker16

Or perhaps the state could require homeowners to clear the snow off sidewalks within a reasonable amount of time- 24-48 hrs. And ENFORCE the requriemnt.

Most northeastern states do this (I come from New England-- and Maryland's attitude towards snow removal (on roads and sidewalks) leaves much to be desired.

True, but not every sidewalk is in a residential neighborhood. Heck, many sidewalks aren't even in front of businesses.....many are along long swaths of roads in between neighborhoods or towns. Who takes care of those sidewalks?

[Patz0709]

Aeroguy, YOU knew you weren' t going to hit her, but SHE didn' t know that. What if she panicked when she saw you coming, and attempted to run across your lane to escape, or slipped trying to get back to the sidewalk? Typical MD mentality. Nice. High heels ill advised, I give you that.

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by santafe400

Hey guys!

After the latest one-two punch of winter weather that recently hit our region, I as many others have noticed a rash of pedestrians walking along main arteries due to snow and ice covered walkways. Certainly, I understand the necessity to walk on the street in such adverse conditions. However the risk from getting to wherever these folks needs to go does not seem to warrant the life-threatening risk that many of these pedestrians are doing, especially with their backs turned away from traffic on several congested and well-traveled arteries. As a driver, it makes me especially nervous as I've had to slam on my breaks on several occasions to stop and attempt to move over a lane to avoid hitting these folks.

Maybe it's just me, but the thought of huffing it through the snow with a slight risk of slipping, is much more reassuring than walking blindly on a major roadway risking certain death.

Does anyone else feel the same way?

I spent ten years in Minnesota and four in New England before moving here to Columbia. I always walked on/in the street if I had the chance. To be frank, you get better traction as it tends to be less icy.

It is dicy around here, too many bad drivers in this state. For what it is worth, as someone who does this, and you may not realize this as the driver, but....people generally do not walk where they can get hit. I understand that some people have a serious issue with knowing how much space is between them and "the curb", which makes me wonder how/why they drive in the first place, but believe me I have seen drivers swerve way the f*** into three lanes over when there was a good solid five feet between me and the car had they continued on without swerving like a jackazz.

As the pedestrian, I know that pedestrian + moving vehicle = pedestrian seriously losing every time.

Originally Posted by Patz0709

You are right that walking in the traffic lines is nerve racking for both the pedestrian and the driver; probably the only thing worse would be slipping off one of those sidewalks/ice dunes into the path of an unsuspecting motorist. YIKES!! (Thankfully the rain and sun today is doing a job on many of them.)

I am friends with a girl, now woman, who slipped on ice (sidewalk) and slid into the street. Her legs got ran over by a vehicle. It wasn't pretty.

[hiker16]

Originally Posted by AeroGuyDC

True, but not every sidewalk is in a residential neighborhood. Heck, many sidewalks aren't even in front of businesses.....many are along long swaths of roads in between neighborhoods or towns. Who takes care of those sidewalks?

Those...ideally the community development, or the town opr county whose roads they;re on.

As for roads/ streets: half of them woudn;t be so bad if the state/county/town had parking bans, and towed cars off the roads during "snow emergencies". Nothing like going down a road and seeing a swath of plowed snow halfway into the road, and a snow-buried car still sitting there five or more days after the storm ended.....

[Cmusic29]

Originally Posted by AeroGuyDC

I barely hit the brakes...intentionally gave her all of 2 feet (max).

DC drivers in a nutshell..can't stand them. They are dangerously impatient and/or out to prove a point, no matter how pointless (and it usually is). The worst is, they can not wait until the walking signal has reached zero, they have to make that turn on red....even if people are crossing. They will turn and give the pedestrian all of 2 feet max, barely missing them..so focused on that one person that they do not see people are crossing from the other side too. Seen some close calls. This attitude that I describe and the one the poster above describes needs to STOP if DC is to ever free itself of the worst drivers in the country (worse than NYC and stats back me up). Dangerously impatient and just overall dangerous.

Hopefully Karma strikes back in whatever way is deemed appropriate by whomever dolls it out, if it is indeed deemed appropriate. Your little anedote is not cool and if you expected to get some laughs, there will be none from me, and from very few people I suspect. I feel sorry for the girl to have come across such a reckless driver. Hopefully something occurs that allows you to lose your ability to drive. There are much better ways you could have gone about this situation, shame on you.

[MidValleyDad]

Originally Posted by AeroGuyDC

True, but not every sidewalk is in a residential neighborhood. Heck, many sidewalks aren't even in front of businesses.....many are along long swaths of roads in between neighborhoods or towns. Who takes care of those sidewalks?

In our town whoever owns the land the sidewalk is on/next to. If it is town land the town does it, School board if it is next to their property, HOA/development for their common area, etc. Someone always owns the land next to the sidewalk.

And yes we do send out warnings and violations. We get pretty good compliance. the worst problem was when their are houses in forclosure/bankowned. Then the town sends the violation, does the removal and puts a lien against the property.