Don’t jaywalk, always cross at corners. Look both ways, twice. Never step off the curb to check traffic.
A few years ago a Japanese scholar visiting chicago stepped off a curb looking right to check traffic. Unfortunately there was traffic, on the left. He was run over and killed. Tragic, but true.
Always expect traffic from both sides.
Always assume the lane you are going to cross is a one way street/lane and you do not know which way the traffic is supposed to go.
If there is a safe point in the crossing, stop and look around again, again both directions and not expecting traffic to come from a certain side.
Do not hurry.
First spend more time looking left, right, left, (or the other way around if in a country with traffic on the left) than you would at home. Better miss an oportunity to cross than start walking when you are not yet sure.
Allow yourself more time to cross the road than you expect to need, that allows for cars on the far side where you expect them to be on the near side, and for cars that slow down before they reach you.
Back home does not mean safe.
And very importantly, when you return home, keep in the habbit for a couple of weeks, (or forever,) as it can be rather dangerous if you have adjusted to traffic on the wrong side of the road and you forget, when falling in routine, that you are back home.
I nearly got hit by a car I had not seen, not looked for, on a road crossing I had been using all my life, very close to my grandmothers house. I had so gotten used to looking the wrong way.
In the years since I have learned to always look both ways, even when I know the road I am about to cross on my daily commute is a one way road.
The famous last words of a victim: Cars do not come from that way!
I (and the whole country) was raised to do look left, right and again to the left before stepping off the curb. Obviously less efficient to do it in an opposite direction country but if you get used to a three step look around you will be fine in most places.
If you travel a lot, it’s a good idea to get in the habit of always, always checking both directions before stepping out, wherever you are, without habitually favouring either direction first:
If you always habitually check both ways, you’re fine even if you didn’t notice or momentarily forgot you were somewhere that has one or more of these hazards.
Credit:stackoverflow.com‘
4 Mar, 2024
4 Mar, 2024