Ped Xing

Neon Memes • To steal a phrase from Blondie's "11:59"―and how in the name of heaven or hell have three decades passed since Debbie Harry & Co. unleashed the pure pop perfection of Parallel Lines?―I often play sidewalk social scientist. Usually, paradoxically, I do so in local traffic, when I'm going nowhere fast on gridlock poster children like Brentwood Boulevard or Manchester Road. In that context, certain St. Louisans' behavior in crosswalks has long buffaloed me. At best, that behavior seems counterintuitive; at worst, suicidal. More specifically, some pedestrians hustle, even trot, into a crosswalk whose "DON'T WALK" light has just begun to flash. Then, midway, their trot slows to a stroll, as if they've decided to forgo a show of unseemly if prudent haste in favor of a potential trip to the nearest emergency department―or the morgue. Such behavior boggles my mind in light of the borderline psycho tendencies of too many metro motorists, who make the average Ed "Big Daddy" Roth CARtoons-ish hot rodder look like a depiction of the soul of vehicular rationality. ―Bryan A. Hollerbach, Managing Editor