pissed-off pedestrian

I wrote a couple of days ago about the positive aspects of a car-free Manhattan, and possible ways to do it. Now let me tell you what pisses me off about those metal boxes of death:

When I'm walking at a good, steady clip, trying to get some exercise as I get to where I'm going and I have to stop at every damn traffic light just so people in cars can go faster, I become a frustrated young man.

When I have to literally stick my neck out into the street to see past a parked van or SUV to make sure I won't get creamed by oncoming traffic, I contemplate reducing its height a few inches by letting the air out of its tires.

When I'm squeezed on the sidewalk by too many pedestrians and see how much space all those cars are taking, it makes my blood boil.

When drivers act like the second line of the crosswalk is where they should stop for the light, I feel like walking over their hood. Very, very hard.

Don't even get me started on car alarms.

When some car honks at me because I'm riding my bike ahead of them in a narrow lane, I want to put my fist through their horn. As it is, I just pull into the very center of the lane to make absolutely sure they don't try to get by me and scrape me between themselves and the parked cars. Hey buddy, you don't own the damn road!

When I'm forced to breathe your SUV's second-hand smoke, I want to scream. But I don't, because that would mean I'd have to breathe in even more of the air you've fouled.

And when I hear that over half of the people getting hit by cars in New York City are in the crosswalk, I feel like taking a sledgehammer to the grill of any car that gets near me.

See, especially in a place like New York City, there is so much bad that is associated with cars, that it really outweighs any of the good. So get out of your car and freakin' walk! And while you're at it, check out Transportation Alternatives, NYC. They've got all kinds of information on making our cities more human-friendly.