Open Letter: High Schoolers Crossing the Street… Use the Crosswalk!

And I'm not just talking about just jay-walking but even crossing at a crosswalk.

But let's start with jay-walking.

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The other day I was driving down Tieton in front of Eisenhower High School. It's something that happens almost ever day being that our radio stations are near 40th and Summitview so if I'm driving south on 40th it definitely may happen.

As I turned to go down Tieton from 40th, there was a city bus letting someone off. The kid who got off the bus immediately jay-walked in front of the bus to cross the street and get to the school quicker. Fortunately, I was a safe distance so I could stop in time, but the kid didn't even walk to the crosswalk first or anything, just got off the bus, walked in front of the bus so I didn't see them until it could have been too late. If I had been distracted even for a moment I would have definitely hit him.

And it wasn't a school bus or anything with the 'do not pass' red lights on, this was a Yakima Transit bus so I was free to drive past.

Yeah, don't do that.

But now we can talk about even our safe kids using the safe crosswalk. As a pedestrian, they do have the right of way. So, yes, and thank you for using the crosswalk and crossing when it's okay for you to cross, but I wouldn't mind if you sped up the pace just a touch so cars turning to turn quicker. Not sure why you're walking so slowly. Get a little pep in your stride and it'll do your soul good.

And, when you are walking across the street, what's up with this 'walking diagonally' stuff? That just takes you longer to cross the street.