Pedestrian Responsibility

The continued success of Rockville Town Center as a redefinition of how to utilize (sub)urban space is one of the great achievements of our city, and one of the defining elements of Town Center is the attempt to make it a more "walkable" and pedestrian-friendly environment. However, the fact that Town Center is located in close proximity to several major highways that carry a massive volume of traffic means that we must be realistic in balancing our expectations of how "walkable" it really is.

While I'd like to see more aggressive enforcement of red-light running, speeding and aggressive driving (and not with more cameras, but with actual police/driver interaction), I'd also like to see enforcement of pedestrian behavior, specifically jaywalking, which is a serious problem in downtown Rockville. As a pedestrian who attempts to diligently follow the laws about crossing in marked crosswalks, and who crosses the street when it's legal and appropriate, I find it frustrating to observe some egregious behavior by other pedestrians.

It's especially infuriating to watch someone who's within 50 feet of a crosswalk ignore the crosswalk and then just cross wherever he or she feels inspired to go. That type of behavior does not lend itself to also following the correct traffic-light sequence, and so such a situation invariably results in the person dashing through active traffic, which jeopardizes not only the pedestrian but also the drivers who must dodge the pedestrian and other cars.

The worst effect of inconsiderate pedestrian behavior is that it reinforces the cynicism of drivers against pedestrians, and so drivers have less respect for our rights. When drivers see pedestrians abusing the law, it tends to make them more amenable to not legally and appropriately yielding to pedestrians.

Pedestrians need to know that they will be held as accountable for their violations of the law as they expect drivers to be held. While the city and the county continue to spend considerable funds on educating us about pedestrian rights and responsibilities, it is only when people know that they will be punished when violating those laws that they will begin to take them seriously.

The author is a resident of the City of Rockville.