Pedestrians can’t seem to get out of the way

By Marte Jones, Las Vegas

Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2016 | 2 a.m.

I think the vast majority of motorists, if they know the law, get that pedestrians have the right of way, even if they come darting out between parked cars in a shopping center with three kids and a full shopping cart as if they don’t have a care in the world. I care. So I go very slowly through shopping centers.

I would also think that everyone reading this letter has been a pedestrian and hopefully will be one in the days ahead. So you should understand, and I’m sure you can relate.

I was brought up to hustle, even when it came to crossing the street where there is traffic. I don’t want to keep motorists waiting, so even today at my tender age of 62, out of respect, I get to the other side of the road quickly.

I understand that it will take a bit longer for someone on crutches or in a wheelchair, a really old person, or someone with some other physical ailment to cross the street.

But when I see a young, healthy person, meandering across the street, engaged with their smartphone with plugs in their ears and holding up traffic, it at times infuriates me.

But if the vast majority of us get this very basic premise, how do we get it across to the pedestrians that just don’t get it?