A few weeks ago we took my friends' baby out for a walk in his stroller (buggy, pram, whatever). No big deal, right?? Well, we were walking in a residential area and when we got to the corner, we discovered we were stranded. There was no cross walk across this very busy street. Wait, look over there! If we can manage to get across to a different corner we'll have a cross walk. But, in order to get there we're just going to have to take our chances crossing this slightly less busy street, because there's no cross walk there either. Follow me? At an intersection where two streets cross like this + there was one cross walk. This is actually a very common occurrence in this neighborhood because we had to run that buggy across the street more than once!
When we were in Cork the other weekend for a wedding we were crossing the street near the bus station. There was a cross walk that took you to this little island in the middle of the street, but there was no cross walk to get you off that island and to the other side of the street. You just had to run across. Safe, right??
City planning at it's finest!
That is so Irish.
Stay tuned for more...
Earl Grey Granola, Please!
12 hours ago
Sounds like an adventure!
ReplyDeleteReminds me of Las Vegas. You have to cross 4 lanes (QUICKLY) to an island then wait (forever) and then cross the other 4 lanes quickly again. My friend and I realized that is the reason why the buildings are so crazily lit on the strip- It's to take attention away from all of the people being killed while crossing the street.
Good luck.
LOL-erskates! First about the lack of crosswalks - that's also a very Boston thing, we definitely jaywalk a lot in that city. And second, Katie's story about Vegas. Hilarity ensues! It's grand, sure!
ReplyDeleteI often think to myself "Run for your life!" when I'm trying to cross the street in Dublin. It's that scary sometimes. The city definitely doesn't cater to pedestrians.
ReplyDeleteKatie - the scary thing is the Vegas drivers are probably MUCH safer than Irish drivers!
ReplyDeleteLiz - It's not grand, sure! We risked our lives the other day trying to get to Starbucks!
Dr J - When we cross the street my husband will always say, 'Run for your life!' No, it's definitely not pedestrian friendly!
Probably is an Irish thing. What makes me laugh in Sligo is that there are pedestrian crossings but the drivers take no notice what so ever.
ReplyDeletePedestrian crossings!? Dublin drivers don't even take notice of stop signs!!
ReplyDelete