Playing In Traffic

I called this blog “Playing in Traffic,” thinking that would be a sarcastic & hip nod to the supposed main topic. I should have realized off the bat that there are people out there that at least give the impression they really ARE playing in traffic. The examples for today….

Corner of Mountfort & Carlton in Brookline (or maybe Boston — who knows what’s where in that neighborhood). About 6 PM, waiting at the stop-light that one never gets, when strolling up Montfort comes a purposely distracted BU assistant professor type, studying some papers as he walks. Of course, just as he gets to the intersection with the stop-light you never get, the light turns against him. Not that he notices. He’s walked across one of the two lanes of traffic, and cars have begun passing him on both sides, when the lightbulb goes off in his head. Too bad it was a dim bulb.

About a minute later, I’m crossing Commonwealth Ave., working my way over to the BU campus and down to the bridge across Storrow Drive. Cars are MOVING, determined to get through that intersection and on out Comm Ave or across the bridge to Cambridge. No quarter asked of pedestrians or other cars, and none given. Except to the bike messenger-type co-ed weaving her nice single speed up the bike lane. Heaven forbid that she stop for the red light. She just picks her spot and cuts the traffic, pretty nearly getting crunched for her efforts. She evinced an attitude I often saw when I lived in D.C. — she was too cool to die. I thought about yelling after her, but what would be the point. She’s been riding up that bike lane since she was a freshman, and she’s never been hit. Which reminded me of a phrase burnt into my mind from working on marketing pieces at Fidelity — past performance is no guarantee of future returns.

Score for today: Pedestrians 1 Bicyclists 1 Cars 0.

Filed under: bike commute, Commonwealth Avenue, Oblivousness