Crossing the Street

This morning I was downtown crossing the street (not at the crosswalk), when a small blue car approached. I stopped in the middle of the avenue to wait for it to pass by. There were no other vehicles about and the lane was clear. I expected him to go on by.

Then, a strange thing happened. The driver steered towards the center dividing line until he was in the middle of the street and headed straight for me! I thought, "This is weird. Is he trying to hit me?" He drove right up to me and stopped. I looked at him and he gestured for me to cross the street. So, I crossed to the other side.

Later, I pondered what happened. Why did the driver do that when he could have driven on his way? Why did he go out of his way to steer into the median, almost hit me, and then stop at the last minute?


An insight came. Stopping and letting me cross is highly unusual, here. Pedestrians do not have the right of way. Vehicles do. If a car stops, it's usually for an elderly person or small children. It's a pretty big deal.