Pedestrians Not Safe in Stamford: Duh!

I love the sassy first line of this letter to the editor in the Advocate:
If Stamford police officers want to make our city safer, they need only to place themselves at the Springdale train station at the evening rush.
One of the major differences I noticed when I moved up here from Virginia was how horrifyingly rude cars were to pedestrians. I know it sounds small, but it reflects people's attitudes toward each other. Basically, in the lower FC, the default is to hate others.

A pedestrian could stand for 5 minutes by a "Stop for Pedestrians in the Crosswalk" sign before a driver decides that his or her life can be put on a 20-second hold so someone else can cross the street. In the medium-sized college town I went to, people screeched to a halt if you stepped anywhere near a crosswalk. Granted, most students went to class by foot, so it was a pedestrian culture. Still, many people do walk around here, and cars see them as obstacles rather than people to be protected.

It bothers me that I now, rather than stop, usually keep going if it looks like that's a good option. I do stop when I'm not in a hurry or if I'm feeling relaxed. Crosswalks are an easy opportunity to be nice to people, so I'd like to be better about stopping. I encourage you to do the same; it's good for your state of mind. Life is stressful around here and we need little acts of kindness to stay human. One tip: Try to ignore the driver behind you who looks like he (or just as often, she) wants to rip your head off. It's amazing how much emotion you can observe in your rearview mirror.