By Michael Dresser, Baltimore Sun
Be warned. If you are a pedestrian on O’Donnell Street in East Baltimore, the vast majority of the drivers there would rather run you down and kill you dead, dead, dead than slow down even a smidgen to let you use the crosswalk in which you have the legal right of way.
This is not hyperbole. I spent several hours last week observing the behavior of the drivers in the vicinity of the midblock crosswalk linking the old National Brewery with the building that now houses Elder Health. I crossed and recrossed O’Donnell Street dozens of times to see whether drivers would stop for foot traffic.
Fat chance. More than 90 percent ignored the signs and blew through the crosswalk without pause – even if a pedestrian was stepping off the curb. Some grudgingly slowed. A few actually stopped. But most made it clear through their actions that you proceeded into the crosswalk at your peril.
This included supposed professionals. As I stepped off a curb, a FedEx driver – with plenty of room in which to brake – showed a steely determination to accelerate over my dead body if necessary. A little later, a UPS driver exemplified that company’s competitive spirit by doing the same.
Couldn’t the city do something about it? It already is. The city government van that rumbled through the crosswalk nearly achieved an O’Donnell Street speed record as a uniformed public servant glared down at the pedestrian who had the temerity to think of crossing.
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