The Oblivious Factor
Hi all!
Today, I nearly ran down a pedestrian. I’m not bragging. I mean, who would. I’m just saying that today, a perfectly capable and possibly competent individual walked right out in front of my car. He was an elderly man, probably in his late 60’s, early 70’s. I was driving out to get groceries for Cath and myself for the next week. It was around 8:30 in the morning. There was nothing special about the time, nothing special about the day and unfortunately, nothing special about the event.
I saw him from a mile away (figuratively speaking) and realized what he was about to do. He stepped out to cross the street, at a point that was not designated as a crosswalk, without looking left or right, when the lights were against him. He realized his mistake at the halfway point of the roadway, stopped to look around and saw me on his right. He then decided to head back to the sidewalk. By this time I’d already stopped and I waved for him to finish. He dazedly ambled his way across the street and continued his journey. I went on to finish my groceries.
This was fifty feet from my frontdoor.
This was not an isolated incident. Less than a week ago I nearly ran down another gentleman while returning to my home — on my own street – again!
He had accompanied an individual to his car on the right side of the street. I had just turned onto Gilmour and proceeded to my apartment. Instead of this man going around to the right side of his friends car and getting in the passenger side, he did a 180 and proceeded across the road towards his own car – right in front of me! He didn’t look, he didn’t see me and even though he turned to face the opposite lane of traffic from me, he seemed oblivious to the fact that there was a van coming the other way down Gilmour too.
Again he got about halfway before he realized his error. He stopped and turned to face me with a classic ‘deer in the headlights’ look on his face but I was watching out for him and stopped as soon as I saw him make his move. This only left ten feet between him and my front bumper. He waved and quickly hobbled to the other side of the street where he proceeded to get into his own vehicle.
That’s two pedestrians that I could have killed in the past week and neither would have been my fault. What the hell?
Society seems beset by an epidemic of obliviousness. I’ve termed it the “Oblivious Factor” and this is what I’d like to talk to you about.
This is a new term that I’m coining myself and it comes from a wealth of experiences between myself and the community at large. It ties in directly to how most people seem to be paying little or no attention to their surroundings or each other and how it’s causing more trouble than it’s worth.
Not to be arrogant, but I think I’ve got a great capacity for observation. Being an artist I certainly hope this is so. This doesn’t mean that I catch everything and that things don’t go unnoticed by me, it just means that I’d like to think that I observe more happenings than most people.
As an example, while the man who’s out with his wife to do a spot of shopping is checking out the nubile teenager going by with her friends in the mall, I’m watching his wife’s reaction as she sees his wayward gaze and gives him the evil eye. That kind of thing.
I think this has really helped me in my own life especially lately with all the pedestrians I haven’t killed with my car. Unfortunately I don’t think most people are living with this heightened sense of perception and it’s starting to show.
Over the last little while in Toronto nine pedestrians have been killed in motor vehicle accidents. One might consider that to be an epidemic.
Everyday, someone tries to cross the street and they end up dead, having met the business end of somebody’s car. Every death is tragic and every death is avoidable.
Don’t misunderstand me. I know this article already seems skewed against pedestrians, laying the blame for their misfortune squarely at their mangled feet but this isn’t so. In half of the pedestrian deaths over the last nine days the fault was driver error. These are people who have run red lights, made turns across lanes of walking traffic and generally not been paying attention while piloting a motor vehicle.
So what’s to blame for all this death and carnage? The “Oblivious Factor” that’s what.
I don’t quite understand it myself but I see it everyday. I see it in other drivers, in pedestrians and the people who frequent my workplace. Folks wander the aisles, going to and fro not paying much attention to their own actions or anyone else’s for that matter. Last night I nearly ran into a customer with a product cart when she stepped out of a side aisle right in front of me without checking if the way was clear.
And just this morning at the same shop, while paying for my purchases I said hello to Anna, a young lady that I work with who was nice enough to ring through my groceries. She obligingly said hello but kept her eyes diverted. I hadn’t been formally introduced to her but I had seen her around the store over the past three weeks. I’d assumed she’d seen me too.
I asked her if I’d got her name correct, not understanding her reaction. She said yes. Then I thought I should allay her fears by introducing myself properly. I told her my name was Sean and that I’d been working there for three weeks. She breathed a sigh of relief and realized I wasn’t some bizarre customer or a stalker. She politely finished up my transaction and I went on my way.
I realized as I left the shop that over the last three weeks, although she had undoubtedly seen me working alongside her friends and coworkers she hadn’t noticed me, at least not enough to recognize my face. I’d expect a total stranger on the street not to recognize me but someone I’ve been working with? This is disconcerting to say the least.
People are oblivious, there’s no other explanation. I don’t know if it’s always been this way or if I’ve finally opened my eyes to this social trend but one thing I can say for certain is that it is detrimental to all of us and it’s getting people killed.
There seems to be a distinction between seeing something and noticing it. Seeing is directly connected to sight. If it registers through your eyes then you’ve seen it. But just because you’ve seen something doesn’t mean that you take any notice of it.
To actually take notice of something your brain has to take what your eyes have seen, interpret it, then take the appropriate action giving what you’ve seen the proper respect that it might deserve, be it a person or a half ton of mobile glass and steel.
The pedestrians that would wantonly disregard their safety by stepping out into traffic without looking bothways are ridiculous. It’s one of the very first rules of safety that children are taught and it’s one of the first to be shelved when they become adults. Once we’re done with scraping our knees we apparently become invincible.
I see it everyday. Pedestrians stand on street corners waiting for lights to change so they can safely cross, and then they step off the curb before it’s their turn or, instead of walking twenty feet to a proper crosswalk they just decide to jump out between parked cars and cross the street wherever they feel like. Hell, some of them actually do take the time to have a look around to see what’s coming and then walk out regardless!
The same thing goes for drivers. Just because they see a pedestrian doesn’t mean that they take any notice of them. To reiterate, half the deaths that have happened over the last little while were caused by driver error, some at proper crosswalks!
I think there is a certain amount of ego that goes along with the activity of driving. Motorists have a lot of stringent rules to obey. Stop here on red. Go this speed. Don’t go this way. Roadwork ahead.
Being a motorist myself I’ve learned all about them through my driver education classes and my experiences on the road. There is a book of rules for motoroists but there aren’t many for pedestrians. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that there are none. There certainly isn’t a jaywalking law, at least not here in Ontario.
So I can believe that drivers, being bound by so many rules get easily ticked off with pedestrians who have no rules to follow at all and then deign to infringe on a motorists territory.
I’ll admit it, I’ve gotten steamed at pedestrians. They especially tick me off when they decide to suddenly walk out in front of me causing me to halt my forward momentum when the street is my thoroughfare and I have the right of way. I’m sure this contributes every year to the number of fatalities that occur.
I think it’s time that we opened up our eyes and took a good look around, realized exactly what we’ve been seeing all these years and started reacting appropriately. Let us notice our coworkers for once. Lets notice other pedestrians and not run into them since they actually do exist. Pedestrians need to stop crossing the street at places where there isn’t a proper crossing and drivers need to pay more attention to pedestrians especially when they’re crossing at a proper crossing! There are many times that I’ve crossed the street, as a pedestrian while an impatient motorist slowly inches around the corner just waiting for me to clear the way.
We need to engage the ‘Oblivious Factor’ and eliminate it. We need to see that we’re all affected by it and then we have to take notice of it and take steps to end it’s fatal reign. It causes us to be rude, aloof and lax with our safety and the safety of others. This is helping no one and in some cases, people are dying.
If you don’t think you’re being affected by the ‘Oblivious Factor’ then chances are, you are, you’re just oblivious to it. Take another look and see if you can spot it. You’ll thank yourself the next time you don’t get run down by a car.
For a prime example of how the ‘Oblivious Factor’ leads to rude behaviour check out my post “One Last Post About Rudeness – I Swear!”
For now, that is all. Goodnight.
