At 09:11 AM 9/23/2004, D. Jay Newman wrote:

>> But do you also agree that pedestrians and cyclists should be held
>> accountable for their actions rather than simply blaming car drivers for
>> every accident on the road?
>> 
>> Mike
>
>Yes. There was a case in my area a few years ago where a pedestrian and
>his dog were killed while walking on a road with no sidewalk. Despite
>the witnesses saying the pedestrian was walking in the middle of the
>road around a curve where he could not be seen, the driver was held
>responsible. This seems to have mainly been because the pedestrian
>was a very popular man.

Here in Muncie, most (not all) of our sidewalks have wheelchair ramps, but in some cases there is a telephone pole in the middle of the sidewalk, not 10' from the ramp. In some places, your only choice would be the street, as a brick wall is the other side.  So, we frequently have people deviating into the street.  They just had a festival downtown, so they put up temporary signs on big heavy concrete bases. Right in the middle of the sidewalk.

>And I live and work in a college town where bicyclists routinely
>break the traffic laws (going above the posted speeds, running stop
>signs, and cutting drivers off). They should be ticketed at the
>very least.

I know the feeling, the BSU students here act like there is no traffic. 
I frequently see them just walk diagonally into the road at any point, without looking. 
The kids on their ninja-bikes are about as bad.

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