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Richard Kessler
Citizen
Username: Richiekess
Post Number: 126
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Friday, May 19, 2006 - 12:16 pm: | 
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May 19, 2006
NYC
Rage Is Afoot in New York, or Should Be
By CLYDE HABERMAN
NEW YORK landed near the top of an unflattering list this week. Drivers here, a new study said, are among the worst in the country when it comes to road rage.
The report came as quite a shock. We always thought of the city as a stress-free place where people kept their few bad moods to themselves. Seems we were wrong.
Our drivers turn out to be some of the angriest around. So says AutoVantage, a national automobile club, which interviewed 2,040 people in 20 large cities and found all sorts of antisocial behavior behind the wheel: horn-honking, cursing, fist-waving and — you guessed it — making obscene gestures. The nature of the gestures was not specified. But we assume they include what might be called digital analysis.
The good news, if that's the right word, is that New York was not the worst. It ranked No. 3 out of 20. Angrier yet were Miami (No. 1) and Phoenix. In case you're wondering, Minneapolis was deemed the most courteous. No surprise really. You'd expect the city where Mary Tyler Moore threw her tam in the air to be a polite place.
We figured that maybe the hot weather in Miami and Phoenix plays a role. It boils the brain or something. But that isn't it, said Todd Smith, a spokesman for AutoVantage. Both cities, he said, have a combustible mix of young people, who can be aggressive and impatient, and older types, whose tendency toward cautious motoring can drive the young 'uns crazy (often a short trip).
"Unfortunately," Mr. Smith said, "road rage has become a way of life in America."
There has to be a better way.
In New York, the problem may be twofold. Not only is there too much road rage but there also may be too little pedestrian rage. Perhaps it's time for those who love to walk to get angry themselves.
This is one of the world's great walking cities. Government officials and leaders of civic groups talk endlessly about making life easier for the pedestrian. Once in a while, they even do so. But the sad fact remains that anyone trying to get around the city on foot, especially in Midtown, usually takes it on the shin.
One of the bigger outrages is the way cars routinely turn into crosswalks, barreling through with little to no regard for people whose only sin is to want to cross the street. Call us biased, but our own experience suggests that in Midtown some of the biggest offenders are, in ascending order, (1) New Jersey plates, (2) sport utility vehicles, and (3) sport utility vehicles with New Jersey plates.
We have yet to observe a single police officer issue a summons for this sort of reckless behavior. Perhaps it happens. But we haven't seen it. What makes it all the more exasperating is that the drivers almost always gain nothing. They make the turn, ignoring everyone in the crosswalk, only to be stopped by a red light at the next corner. What's the point?
Worse, much worse, people sometimes die.
Victims can be as prominent as the philanthropist Andrea M. Bronfman, knocked down in January by a livery cab making a turn on the East Side, or as little known as Victor Flores and Juan Angel Estrada, fifth-graders run over two years ago by a truck turning a corner in Downtown Brooklyn. Rich or poor, young or old — careless drivers make no exceptions.
Granted, some pedestrians are their own worst enemies. They cross streets against the light, or dart out from between cars, making it impossible for any driver not blessed with Jeter-like reflexes to stop in time.
STILL, Transportation Alternatives, an advocacy group for pedestrians and cyclists, suggests that traffic signals do not give many older or disabled people enough time to cross at corners. Also, rare is the New York pedestrian who has not come close to being mowed down by a heedless bike messenger or by a delivery guy riding his bicycle the wrong way on a one-way street. In Midtown, even sidewalks can be obstacle paths, clogged as many of them are with street vendors.
As the population ages, issues like these may become ever more urgent. Pedestrian rage may well rise to match, and even surpass, road rage. Why, someday the city may have to even erect a statue to honor New Yorkers who go on foot.
What better symbol than Ratso Rizzo, the "Midnight Cowboy" character who spoke for many of us when he slammed his hand on a moving taxi cab and cried, "I'm walking here!" |
ajc
Citizen
Username: Ajc
Post Number: 5148
Registered: 9-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, May 28, 2006 - 2:04 am: |
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“There has to be a better way.”
Rage! Richard, I don't think anyone is interested in your post. So, forget about road rage and pedestrian rage. The only rage we really need to be concerned about is all the political rage...
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