Jaywalkers

Nice to see at least the Eureka Police Department getting on the case of jaywalkers. I'm not so sure I have a problem with jaywalking in and of itself. If someone is paying attention and crosses the street where he legally shouldn't but it's not causing a problem with anyone's safety, what's the problem?

It's the ones who don't look or pay attention to traffic that cause the problem, or those that cross on red lights, sometimes.

I had a girl cross the street on a red light in front of me a few months ago. Middle of the afternoon at the corner of Henderson and E Streets in Eureka. I don't think she even looked as I drove in to the middle of the intersection and had to abruptly stop. She just looks over at me and smiles. I couldn't believe it. SOMEONE WRITE HER A TICKET, PLEASE!

Henderson Center is the place to go if you want to watch crazy pedestrian moves. Strange thing is, I see the worst pedestrian stuff on F street, whereas E street seems to have more people that at least look both ways before crossing the street. Maybe F street, being more congested, makes people feel safer since people usually drive slower?

At that one crosswalk on F street some people just walk out in the street without looking. Most at least look first, but usually just look straight ahead as they walk across the street. They don't seem to realize cars can pull out of a parking space or turn on to the street from a side street and become a threat.

I wish they could write tickets for inattentive walking, but maybe that's asking a bit much. Probably come back to haunt me, anyway, if they did start doing that.

*******

As an aside, I saw a good one take place on the corner near my house some months ago.

I was out taking stuff out of my truck and noticed a teenage kid at the corner across the street. I assumed he was a high school student as he was carrying a rucksack and was headed toward Eureka High School.

I didn't notice if he looked before crossing but the next time I looked up he was crossing the street looking straight ahead seemingly oblivious to the white older model station wagon bearing down on him from the south on E street.

The car isn't even slowing down and I realize it's about to hit the kid. I yell to the kid, LOOK OUT! He quickly jumps out of the way of the car and just keeps on walking as if nothing happened. The car was maybe five feet from him when he jumped. He walked on down Trinity Street after that and I don't believe I've seen him since.

As the car passed by- the driver was in his late teens or early twenties with a passenger about the same age- the passenger throws something at the kid but the driver just drove on. He never slowed down at all.

Pretty crazy stuff going out there between cars and people nowadays.