Books and Crosswalks

Boulder's new Barnes & Noble bookstore opened its doors over the weekend. It is open and full of light, there is plenty of room to move between the shelves, and I spent too much money in there when I wandered inside yesterday. I went looking for one particular book... I came home without that book, but I purchased four others, as well as next year's calendar. I saw a new Wilbur Smith novel, and I hoped it was another in the Egypt series, but Assegai is about one of the Courtneys and a Ballantyne in Africa (not to mention a short interlude with Teddy Roosevelt on safari). It was extremely pleasant yesterday, and is supposed to be so again today - with highs in the mid- to upper 70s. And the sunrise for the past two mornings has been awesome - just a few tattered clouds that turned yellow, orange, and then rosy red as Sol raised his head. The kits seem to be very pleased that I am spending a lot of time at home with them - Banichi is cuddling in my lap or in bed with me much of the time, while Lovey arrives and demands speech and loving, scratching hands. - And the Virginia DOT has announced that the new bridge to Chincoteague will be finished in January 2010; we were debating where the bridge should be placed when I met Jeffrey in 1995....

I don't know how many other states have implemented "zebra" cross walk laws - but the crosswalks here in Boulder are deadly. I call then "zebra " crosswalks, because that is what they are called in England - any pedestrian or bicyclist has the right of way at these crosssings; usually there are no lights anywhere near the crosswalk, and drivers simply must be alert at all times. We have several of those crosswalks (I, personally, use 4 on a daily basis) in Boulder, as well as the lighted crosswalks, where one pushes a button, and yellow caution lights flash for approaching traffic to see, and supposedly, stop. I was taught that a flashing yellow light meant "proceed with caution" when one was driving; and apparently that is a problem with these flashing crosswalks - I think the designers should have used red flashing lights instead of yellow. Why do I raise this issue now? Yesterday I used a lighted crosswalk to cross Pearl Street between Target and the Whole Foods Market and the new Barnes & Noble. As I stepped off the bus, five feet from the crosswalk, there was an accident in/on the crosswalk. A woman pressed the button, and then started to cross the street, apparently without pausing to look and see if any vehicles were approaching. A Subaru wagon struck her less than 5 feet from the curb. Within two minutes an ambulance and fire truck had arrived; but it took more than 25 minutes to stabilize the woman, get her into a cervical collar and onto a back board, and depart for the hospital. Boulder has had multiple accidents at these crosswalks, especially the lighted ones, as people on foot or bike don't take the time to look to see if a vehicle is stopping or not. The law says one must stop, and I do when I'm driving. But people must also use common sense - and look both ways before they step out into a traffic path. As there was no column about a death today or yesterday, I'm assuming the woman survived her accident.... but that was due only to luck - not to common sense!