July 4, 2012

Another View: Pedestrians also are endangered by drivers using cellphones

The writer suggests finding a safe place to stop before texting or phoning.

By Nancy Dacar, who lives in South Portland

I was in agreement with letter writer Judith Hopkins about texting and cellphone use while driving ("Readers offer ways to stop teen drivers from texting," June 20), with one exception. She said that the practice "posed an obvious danger to themselves, innocent drivers and their passengers." She missed one important group of the population: pedestrians.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nancy Dacar is a resident of South Portland.

I walk or take a bus everywhere I go. Many drivers don't pay any attention to people walking, due to inattention or cellphone use.

I cross Broadway in South Portland nearly every day. There are walk lights and signs stating "stop for pedestrians in the crosswalk." I wait until the walk light comes on.

Recently I was crossing and a woman had her directional light on to turn onto Broadway from Ocean Street. She stopped so I could finish crossing before the light changed. The woman in back of her tooted the horn as she too wanted to turn.

When I got to the sidewalk, the "tooter" had the audacity to shake her fist at me. She apparently thought her life was more important than mine.

If I had been hit, traffic would have been tied up for some time and my family might have been planning my funeral. I wonder how she would have felt.

Please don't text or use your cellphone while driving. Find a safe place to stop and stop endangering everyone else on the roads.

 

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