Bad pedestrians are driving me crazy!

We've all heard complaints about bad drivers and bad cyclists. But there's another group of people we hear about a lot less. Bad pedestrians. And nowadays, they've been driving me nuts. I live in a very busy neighbourhood in Toronto, so of course I see plenty of traffic every day, both on wheels and on foot. What's driving me to the wall is that a lot of the folks pounding the pavement with their feet think they're invincible, so they'll do pretty much any stupid thing in the book while they're walking about. It's like they're oblivious to the world around them.

As you might expect, most of my issues with bad pedestrians come up when I've driving. Jaywalking is the most common infraction that I see among people walking in my area, but I have a bigger problem with the idiots who think it's okay to cross the street when the light is red and believe they're guaranteed not to be struck by a vehicle. I also get really pissed off at the morons who have their heads in their cellphones or are talking and/or texting when they're crossing the street. Hell, I've even seen people jaywalking while using their cellphones. How dangerous and stupid can you be!? Then there's the people who cross the street at the last moment before the light turns red yet don't even have the decency to hurry up so that they're not in the intersection when the cars get a green light. Okay, if you're old or disabled and you can't get across in time, I'll give you a pass. As for the rest of you, MOVE YOUR ASSES!

Now in the interests of fairness, I don't make myself out to be a perfect pedestrian any more than I could pretend to be the perfect driver. I jaywalk every now and then. It's hard to blame people for doing it when the nearest crosswalk is ten blocks away, although if you must jaywalk, at least don't do it while using a cellphone and not paying attention. I've even crossed the street while using my cellphone a couple of times, though I certainly don't make a habit of it like a lot of other people do. Yes, we've all done stupid things while walking in busy neighbourhoods. The problem is that too many people are making a habit of not being responsible while navigating on foot. I just wish that bad pedestrians were as accountable for their actions as motorists are expected to be.