One of my pet peeves is jaywalkers. I don't mind jayrunners because they make an attempt to cross quickly, thus allowing vehicular traffic to flow by, but I dislike pedestrians who jump out without looking to see if traffic is coming and expect me to see them when I have many other items on which to keep my attention; who take their sweet time crossing the street; and who make obscene gestures at drivers who choose not to stop for them even though the pedestrians themselves are the ones doing something illegal. None of those things happened to me recently, but there were two recent smaller incidents that prompt me to write this blog entry. Pedestrians need to yield the right-of-way to drivers at stop signs and at traffic signals. I get really annoyed when some people continue walking even when the stop sign is facing them or when I have to make a right turn at an intersection and pedestrians decide to ignore their red and cross the street I want to turn onto. I was so irked that I even looked up the traffic regulations and even though the closest law I could find that supports my opinion is from the Illinois State University Police Department, I'm sure the same rule applies here.

It's not because I think it's inconvenient to stop for pedestrians, but it's just courteous to follow these rules. No one owns the road, contrary to what some might think. It's common sense, too; unless you're Superman, no one can stand the chance against 1400+ mass of metal coming at him/her even at low speed.