This Past Wednesday…

… i was coming back from grocery shopping and arrived at the intersection of uRoute 52 and Main Street, Beacon, NY…

… there was a commotion of vehicles and people going on at the opposite side of the intersection and i made out a human figure lying on the road as i turned the corner and continued on my way…

… as i drove slowly down Main Street thinking about what it was i had seen, the police, and then a fire truck, with sirens going, raced by…

… the following day H read to me from an article on the incident… a woman had been hit by a jeep making a left turn as she crossed in the crosswalk… she later succumbed to her injuries…

… this morning i passed by the intersection and this bouquet of flowers was stuck into the utility pole between the buttons one pushes to cross the road… i have no idea if she had pushed one or not before she crossed… as often as not, pedestrians don’t push the buttons…

… i was sad thinking about a woman who’s life was prematurely ended… saddened by the thought of loved ones mourning rather than celebrating this holiday season…

… the cosmic unwinding of forces is cruel sometimes… not from its point of view, but from ours… it is we who must receive and cope with its unyielding dispensations…

… i have had my own near misses at this intersection… i don’t believe in pedestrian controlled crossing lights… i believe they promote bad behavior in motorists… my own experience has shown that some motorists assume that when the walk signal isn’t lighted, pedestrians don’t have the right of way… NYS law says otherwise… pedestrians always have the right of way regardless of the disposition of traffic lights… pedestrian crossing lights should be automatic… i don’t know if the woman had pressed the button or, if not, whether it would have made a difference… i do know that motorists can be quite aggressive to pedestrians in their way…