***
As a former paramedic and firefighter who has responded to numerous and tragic “pedestrian struck” accidents, I read your jaywalking editorial with interest (“Jaywalking’s Steep Toll,” Editorial, Oct. 15).
The general public has a false notion as to the dangers that pose a genuine threat to their safety and well-being.
I always thought it remarkable when I’d see a young man who obviously took impeccable care of himself roller- blade in Manhattan traffic while taking his pulse and speaking on the cellphone. The problem is that roller- blader never saw anyone mangled by a bus.
If folks want to prevent these tragedies, they need to reassess their priorities. Exercise is important, but so is safety.
Robert Reeg
Stony Point
***
Any seasoned pedestrian knows that the most dangerous place to cross is at the corners due to vehicles making sharp turns because they, too, have the green light.
Jaywalking is the birthright of every New Yorker and is perfectly safe as long as you look before you leap.
D. Middlebrooks
Brooklyn
***
I was a tour-bus driver and made countless trips to New York City. I couldn’t get over the amount of jaywalkers who would walk in front of a 40,000-pound bus as I was trying to make a turn while driving.
If you blew the horn at them, they would give you the finger.
Jaywalkers would keep walking in front of me for so long at intersections that my green light would turn red as I was halfway through the turn and took a chance of getting a ticket.
I have driven in many major cities where if you jaywalk, you will get a stiff fine.
I feel real sorry for the double-decker bus driver who hit a woman jaywalker. That driver will have to live with that for the rest of his life, and the lady is lucky that she is still alive.
I retired in 2001, and I do not miss the jaywalkers in the Big Apple.
Don L. Oldham
Reading, Pa.
***
With the increase of subway fares, construction sites, food carts, foreign tourists, pedi- cabs and texting pedestrians, the street corners of Manhattan have become impossible to cross.
While I understand that jaywalking is illegal and dangerous, I ashamedly admit that I have angled across a street during rush hour.
T. King
Manhattan
***
I take exception to your opinion in “Jaywalking’s Steep Toll.” How many pedestrians while following the law have been killed by drivers doing whatever they please?
Shortly after reading your opinion, I had to jump out of the way of a driver trying to park on the sidewalk. I cannot count the number of times I have been forced to walk in the street because of cars parked on the sidewalk. Once, while I was on crutches, this was even observed by a cop who ignored the situation.
Yes, the law is the law, but at times I feel safer jaywalking, especially if laws are not being enforced across the board.
Rocco Cascone
Staten Island
***
Why the concern about jaywalking? I’m more concerned about and threatened by bicycle riders.
These idiots ride on the sidewalks, against one-way streets, and don’t obey traffic signals.
I thought bicycles were classified as vehicles and thus subject to the same traffic laws as cars, but I guess not.
These riders are an absolute menace.
William Ford
Queens