“What’s your problem, Portland?” asks Portland Mercury and mostly I want to call attention to two transit-related matters.
First, Suzette Smith nails one issue as a pedestrian: drivers who think they are doing you a favor when they aren’t, because (at least as I see it) it’s simply too dangerous to cross the street without having the express and explicit right-of-why and sometimes not even then. It’s really much safer for pedestrians if drivers take the right-of-way when it’s theirs and let us pedestrian take it when it’s ours.
This doesn’t even get into the fact that often, if the height of the sun in the sky and the reflective angles of a car’s windshield are just right, we can’t even see if they are signaling us to go ahead. As a general rule, pedestrians here need either the clear right-of-way or the total absence of imminent traffic.
I’m also going to toss in one more: drivers, your turn signals are not just for use when there is a car behind you. Drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians in all the other directions also need to be able to tell what the fuck you are about to do with your lethal two-ton battering ram. Every single damned time you are going to turn, you need to put your turn signal on.
Second, a reader submission rightly knocks transit riders who don’t grasp the idea that you enter at the front, exit by the rear door, when you board you either find a seat or move toward the rear of the bus, and if you’re already on a crowded bus when more people board you make room for them to get on. Also, yes: use headphones, mute your device, or get off the fucking bus.