Dawdling Senior Fined Crossing The Street
Henry here. “An 82 year old woman, according to the (AP) Los Angeles wire service received a $114 ticket for taking too long to cross a street.”
According to the article , “Mayvis Coyle said she began shuffling with her cane across a busy road when the light was green, but was unable to make it to the other side before it turned red. She said that the motorcycle officer who ticketed her on Feb. 15 told her she was obstructing traffic.”
Some people will observe that is want she deserved. If she was holding traffic up, then she deserved a fine. Her complaint was in part that the officer treated her like a child and she is a self-proclaimed Cherokee medicine woman. The L.A. Times reports that she has been beseiged by the media and her cause is being pushed forward as an important pedestrian’s rights issue.
Naturally it is important to keep traffic moving, but a 17 year old local high school student has a web petition complaining about a fine of some 300 dollars to a local car driver. The woman driver ran a flashing light, at an official cross walk, passed a car that had stopped for the light and hit and killed a talented, young 16 year old student.
We might well ask the officer and the woman driver: “What’s the rush? What is more important than a person’s safety whether they are 82 or 16.