A New Height of Arrogance

People jaywalk all the time.  Everyone knows that.  I myself jaywalk - but only when it doesn't inconvenience any driver, and only when I am responsible for myself and not anyone with me.

Tourists in DC push jaywalking to the extreme, as if they have some invisible force field around them, making them impervious to cars going 35, headed straight towards them.  The larger their numbers, the more they believe in their safety and right to stop traffic. 

But this year's prize goes to the woman who crossed against the signal at the Lincoln Memorial this afternoon, looking straight at me and playing chicken with me and several other fast approaching drivers - while she pulled her small children along with her.  

Can someone tell me what kind of fucked-up thinking makes it worth using your own small children as human shields so you won't have to wait thirty seconds for the light to change?

It wasn't like we were several blocks away (which would still not have made it right); we were less than a block's distance from her when she started across the street.  This was at the northwest corner of the Lincoln Memorial, a stretch of roadway where there is rarely a break in the traffic coming from or headed towards the Memorial Bridge, a major artery across the Potomac connecting Virginia and DC.  After decades of dangerous situations involving tourists coming out of caravans of buses parked illegally on the opposite side of the road, a traffic light was finally installed.  There is no vehicular cross traffic at this light - no intersection exists - so there is no other reason to stop traffic.  Of course, this dumb-shit mother couldn't be expected to understand that that light was put there solely for her safety.

The only reasonable explanation for her breathtaking stupidity was arrogance - the belief that her time, even thirty seconds of it, was worth far more than mine or that of all the other drivers around me, and that therefore, she had the right to stop all traffic, regardless of the signal.  This is really the height of arrogance.  Not surprising in this city, though it's not what you would expect from a tourist (which makes me postulate that she was a local.  I think most tourists know when they're being stupid, even while behaving stupidly.)

Should I have stopped?  Probably.  Was it stupid to keep driving right past her as she reached the median?  Probably.  Was it worth the risk of hitting someone just for the sake of making a point?  No.  I'm sure that while I was thinking she couldn't possibly be stupid enough to actually keep walking, she was thinking I couldn't possibly be stupid enough to keep driving.

But let's not forget, she created the situation of her own free will.  This was not like NYC, where every day, masses of working people jaywalk with hostile drivers barreling down on them.  If you're going to play chicken with your own life and assume all personal risk, go ahead.  But don't take anyone with you, especially not children.  And certainly not your own.