You know who you are: Get this about walkers

Most regular readers of this column know that we prefer to hear of issues and complaints about roads and traffic by way of e-mail, snail mail or fax. We don't put a phone number at the bottom of the column because if we took the time to talk personally with everyone with a problem, we would never get anything else done. There are just that many traffic problems in south Pinellas County to discuss.

But a lady called last week so frustrated and so frightened that she was in tears. So, naturally, we made an exception.

She had just crossed Fourth Street N in St. Petersburg in the rain. She said the traffic light was with her, yet two cars made turns that put them in conflict with her, and she narrowly escaped being hit.

You have heard us whine about this topic before, and it is so important that you're going to have to endure it again.

Pedestrians have the right of way.

Period.

End of story.

There is no rational excuse for nearly hitting someone on foot in a crosswalk, and yet this area has one of the highest instances of pedestrian mortality in the country.

Yes, pedestrians sometimes do dumb things, like walking along a busy road at night in dark clothes or stepping in front of vehicles.

But when there is a pedestrian in a crosswalk, those of you on wheels must yield. And most of you never do.

We cross Second Street S every day, sometimes several times a day, in a clearly marked midblock crosswalk to reach the Times parking lot. We can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times in the past 10 years that drivers have yielded to us.

We have been brushed back several times by drivers who seem to think that the presence of humans in a crosswalk is like a game of shooting tin ducks on the midway ... either that, or they're not thinking at all.

Come on, people. Get a clue. Save a life.

From that same milieu comes our Carbungle of the Week, those things that other drivers do that make your blood boil.

Those broad white bars on the road surface at controlled intersections are stop bars. They are much wider than the two white stripes that delineate the crosswalk beyond. It is not difficult to tell them apart.

Not surprisingly, the stop bar means: Stop.

It doesn't mean roll forward into the crosswalk, or even to the far side of the crosswalk. It means stop before the crosswalk.

Pedestrians should not have to weave around a car's front end to get safely across a street.

We thank you for your kind support.

And we are dismounting the soap box now.

We were aghast to notice last week that the city was back working on Third Street S, where a simply interminable drainage project recently ended, resulting a beautifully smooth new road.

So we went screeching to Tom Gibson, one of St. Petersburg's most knowledgeable street gurus, to find out what was going on.

To our great relief, Tom told us the city was repaving the last two blocks of the street rehab project, Third between 20th and 22nd Avenues S. Those blocks were not included in the drainage project but had been scheduled for repaving.

By the time you read this, the work should be done.

Where the work never seems to be done is on Eighth Street S at Sixth Avenue in the right lane, which you can't avoid if you need to make the right turn to the Bayfront Medical Center complex.

A few months ago the city patched some really grotesque potholes in that lane, and now the patches have potholes, in one case all the way through to the brick several layers of paving below.

Not only is this a most unpleasant surprise, it also earns the nod as our Eyeball Jiggler of the Week.

Let's go visit the gulf beaches for a few minutes.

The widening of Blind Pass Road is a pain in the neck not only for those who live near it but for businesses trying to survive there.

A colleague who covers the beaches told me recently that drivers are avoiding the area in droves -- also in Cadillacs, Buicks, Toyotas and some small trucks. While they find less difficult ways to go north and south, the businesses that must endure the road project are struggling to survive.

This is often an unhappy side effect of road improvements (if, in fact, the widening of Blind Pass Road can be considered an improvement). In any event, try to keep those small businesses in mind. If they have products and services you can use, it would be nice if you patronized them, even at the cost of a few extra minutes behind the wheel.

While we're out at the beach (in no hurry, we might add, to leave the sun and the breeze), we note that the construction of the reclaimed water system, which has had segments of Gulf Boulevard tied up for months, is beginning to move into neighborhoods.

Irritating, isn't it?

Roads all torn up.

Traffic a mess.

Jessie has a lot of sympathy. She hates to get dusty.

But have patience. It will be worth it when it's all finished.

If it's ever all finished.

Finally, Dr. Delay's Terrible Traffic Tidbit of the Week:

Alcohol was involved in 40 percent of all fatalities from auto crashes last year, according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.

We have nothing amusing to add because we find nothing about this statistic even remotely amusing.

We'll be in a better frame of mind next week.

-- Dr. Delay can be reached by e-mail at docdelay@sptimes.com, by fax at (727) 893-8675 or by snail mail at 490 First Ave. S, St. Petersburg 33701.

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