Near -crushing If there’s something I’ve learned from living in Toronto and attending UTS, it’s how to jaywalk.
UTS, my former high school, is situated at the corner of Bloor & Spadina in Toronto. This is a very busy intersection at most times of day and night. When I went there, there was a Pizza Pizza And a Second Cup right across Bloor St from the school. Obviously, these were popular lunchtime destinations, and so I quickly learned how to jaywalk, including standing on the yellow line as cars and trucks went by inches away.
Now I cross the street twice a day at the corner of Church and Front / Wellington Streets. I know the exact timing and behaviour of the traffic signals. Today on my walk to Union station I crossed Church Street against the signal because there were no cars turning from Front Street. Standard Procedure most of the time. However there was a streetcar that wanted to turn right from Church on to Wellington. The driver started to turn but then stopped when he noticed I was crossing in front of him. Guess I narrowly averted being crushed. Once I made it across, I started to cross Wellington, again against the signal. Hey, there were no cars! But remember the streetcar? Yeah, it was turning. And the driver didn’t notice me this time. Somehow I sensed the streetcar and turned around and headed for the safety of the sidewalk. A couple of guys patiently waiting for the signal to change and who saw all of this told me I was going to die. I smiled, gave them a thumbs-up, and kept walking.
Pay attention to those streetcars, kids.
