i was telling Jessie tonight about this strident call to fellow pedestrians, and here's some excerpts:

Many of us are tired of being treated like second-class citizens simply because we walk and don’t drive. Being a pedestrian isn’t even a choice. Being a pedestrian means being human. We were walking for millions of years before the automobile was invented; therefore, driving is the choice. It isn’t even an inalienable right – it’s a privilege that needs to be treated as such. And I’m tired of drivers who get to their destination much faster than I do growing inpatient with me, encroaching on my personal space because I’m apparently walking too slowly for them in the crosswalk when I have the right of way.

Such motorists are guilty of brandishing a lethal weapon that kills thousands of pedestrians in the United States annually... The most disturbing thing is many motorists who strike pedestrians will likely get off scot-free; they’re just considered one of the victims in these unfortunate “accidents.” Simply tell the police that the sun was in your eyes, or that the rain or the San Francisco fog made visibility difficult...

As pedestrians and concerned residents we have a duty to tell drivers who rush us as we cross streets to be patient. It’s our duty to let our friends and family members know when we are passengers in their cars that it is not OK to be rude to and impatient with pedestrians because such behavior is dangerous, potentially deadly. Motorists must respect crosswalks and pedestrian rights at every intersection regardless of whether they're painted or not...

...near my house, at the intersection of Hayes and Gough and also at Gough and Fell there are barricades that read, “NO PED CROSSING,” requiring pedestrians to go out of our way and cross the intersection three times, tripling our encounters with motorists, simply to get across the street. Pedestrians are second-class citizens at these car-centric intersections, merely an interruption in the flow of traffic, and I’m going to do my best to work towards allowing pedestrians to cross at all four corners. Please join me in this battle because one voice is less likely to be heard than a bunch of fed up voices. Make pedestrian advocacy your New Year’s resolution.