You DO NOT have the right of way......

On Monday this week I saw a scene unfold before me that was unbelievable. First let us examine what the California Drivers Handbook has to say about pedestrians: http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/hdbk/misc_lic_info.htm#pedestrianresp http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/hdbk/right_of_way.htm

Notice this quote: "Do not suddenly leave a curb or other safe place, and walk or run into the path of a vehicle close enough to be a danger to you. This is true even though you are in a crosswalk. The law states that drivers must always yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian, but if the driver cannot stop in time to avoid hitting you the law will not prevent you, from being hit."

I also found this article written by a police officer very enlightening: http://www.livermorepolice.org/traffic_articlesbicycle.htm

Essentially the point I am trying to establish before I tell my story is that you are only a pedestrian if you are Walking. If you enter the crosswalk at anything besides a walking pace (Running/Jogging/Skateboarding/biking/rollarbladeing) you are no longer a pedestrian in MOST cases.

So now the good stuff. I am heading into work and approaching a very large and busy intersection. The road I am on has 5 lanes of traffic, 2 are left hand turn lanes, the center is a forward only lane, and the right 2 are right hand turn only lanes. During my approach I see the 2 left hand turn lanes are stopped with traffic because of a red left arrow, the center lane has a green, and the right 2 lanes have a green which is about to turn to a green right arrow.

From the left a young man on a skateboard enters the cross walk on his skateboard, and because the traffic lights ahead are green he is doing so on a "Don't Walk" signal for him. So far 2 negatives for the skateboarder. I watch in horror as the skateboarder skates past the stopped cars in the left hand turn lanes and right in front of a VW Jetta that had intentions on proceeding directly through the intersection.

The VW narrowly stops in time to avoid running over the skateboarder who has to pick up his board as he lost control of it trying to stop.

Now, this is where the "unbelievable" part of my story comes into play.

The skateboarder raises his arms at the VW driver in what looked to me like an attempt of body language to say "Whats wrong with you, you almost ran me over". Granted I cannot say for sure if that is what he meant, it just looked like that to me. During this time the main green signal turns red, and the VW driver is going to miss the light, HOWEVER the right hand turn green arrow is alive and well, and traffic turning right never seemed to see the skateboarder or slow for the action happening. Instead of realizing he was in the wrong, the Skateboarder - whose intelligence must be severely lacking - gets back no his board and rides right in front of the moving traffic once again, forcing the traffic 2 cars ahead of me to stop.

Luckily for me I was observing this entire situation and was driving slowly enough to not have a rear end collision from the sudden stoppage of traffic. At this point I am starting to get irritated at this person.

What were they thinking?
How do people of such limited intelligence seem to remain alive?
I am glad I did not have to witness a death on the street that morning, but if one had occurred would I feel bad for the deceased or rejoiced at once less intrusion to intelligent society?

One thing is for sure, I would never blame the driver that hit such a person.