For once, the guy at fault gets the blame
(along with some injuries piled on top)
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
Every now and again the person that is at fault actually takes the blame for it, including someone that recently was injured while impatiently trying to cross a busy street against traffic and outside of the designated cross-walk area.
I don't mean to make light of the injuries suffered by the victim here, but I'm reminded yet again that this individual most likely would not be a victim at all if he had simply taken a few more seconds to walk up or down the block to get to a cross walk and then used that cross walk instead of jaywalking his way across the street.
Of course the victim's family isn't happy that he was found with a $5 ticket payable to the municipality, but again, he could have avoided that all together if he'd simply been a bit smarter about where and when he tried to cross the street.
This falls into a category of pet peeves of mine - stupid people who hurt themselves or others because they can't be bothered to do it right the first time. People that line up in the express checkout lane with too many items thinking "no harm, no foul" while others that follow the rules stand behind them hating life while waiting to pay for just a few items. People that try to play a real life game of frogger by darting across the street instead of walking a bit further up or down the block til they get to a cross walk.
I readily admit that I'm not a patient person myself. I may be tempted to dart across a street too, but I'm smart enough to not just check, or even double check, the traffic situation before trying to cross such a street. I'd triple check, I'd look for a cross walk, and I'd try to find the safest way to get my tail to where it needed to be without endangering myself or others. Just because I'm not patient does not mean I am stupid. It's just a shame that for many stupidity seems to go hand-in-hand with a lack of patience, giving all impatient individuals a bad name.
Original news snippet (from Washington Post) follows. Please see original article for complete story. Headline is linked.
Struck D.C. Pedestrian Has Critical Injuries, $5 Ticket
By Paul Schwartzman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 3, 2005; Page A01
D.C. police issued a $5 jaywalking ticket to a renowned urban designer after a car sent him hurtling through the air as he crossed a busy Washington street.
Charles Atherton, 73, the former longtime secretary of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts who oversaw the design of major monuments and federal buildings, was in critical condition yesterday after he was hit Thursday night while crossing rain-slicked Connecticut Avenue NW.
The collision's force, witnesses said, caused Atherton to fly out of his shoes and left him crumpled on the road, bleeding from his head and nose after his head smashed into the windshield.
Before paramedics rushed him to the hospital, police issued Atherton the ticket, which his family found among his belongings when they visited him at George Washington University Hospital.
"He was issued a ticket because he was at fault. That's all I can tell you," said Lt. John Kutniewski of the police department's major crash investigation unit.
Police said that Atherton caused the accident by crossing the street mid-block, just south of the Uptown movie theater in Cleveland Park.
Kutniewski, who was not at the scene immediately after the 7:30 p.m. accident, said that officers later told him that Atherton was conscious when he received the summons.
.... much more at original article
I don't mean to make light of the injuries suffered by the victim here, but I'm reminded yet again that this individual most likely would not be a victim at all if he had simply taken a few more seconds to walk up or down the block to get to a cross walk and then used that cross walk instead of jaywalking his way across the street.
Of course the victim's family isn't happy that he was found with a $5 ticket payable to the municipality, but again, he could have avoided that all together if he'd simply been a bit smarter about where and when he tried to cross the street.
This falls into a category of pet peeves of mine - stupid people who hurt themselves or others because they can't be bothered to do it right the first time. People that line up in the express checkout lane with too many items thinking "no harm, no foul" while others that follow the rules stand behind them hating life while waiting to pay for just a few items. People that try to play a real life game of frogger by darting across the street instead of walking a bit further up or down the block til they get to a cross walk.
I readily admit that I'm not a patient person myself. I may be tempted to dart across a street too, but I'm smart enough to not just check, or even double check, the traffic situation before trying to cross such a street. I'd triple check, I'd look for a cross walk, and I'd try to find the safest way to get my tail to where it needed to be without endangering myself or others. Just because I'm not patient does not mean I am stupid. It's just a shame that for many stupidity seems to go hand-in-hand with a lack of patience, giving all impatient individuals a bad name.
Original news snippet (from Washington Post) follows. Please see original article for complete story. Headline is linked.
Struck D.C. Pedestrian Has Critical Injuries, $5 Ticket
By Paul Schwartzman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 3, 2005; Page A01
D.C. police issued a $5 jaywalking ticket to a renowned urban designer after a car sent him hurtling through the air as he crossed a busy Washington street.
Charles Atherton, 73, the former longtime secretary of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts who oversaw the design of major monuments and federal buildings, was in critical condition yesterday after he was hit Thursday night while crossing rain-slicked Connecticut Avenue NW.
The collision's force, witnesses said, caused Atherton to fly out of his shoes and left him crumpled on the road, bleeding from his head and nose after his head smashed into the windshield.
Before paramedics rushed him to the hospital, police issued Atherton the ticket, which his family found among his belongings when they visited him at George Washington University Hospital.
"He was issued a ticket because he was at fault. That's all I can tell you," said Lt. John Kutniewski of the police department's major crash investigation unit.
Police said that Atherton caused the accident by crossing the street mid-block, just south of the Uptown movie theater in Cleveland Park.
Kutniewski, who was not at the scene immediately after the 7:30 p.m. accident, said that officers later told him that Atherton was conscious when he received the summons.
.... much more at original article