Braid: A young girl saves her own life — because she wasn't glued to a cellphone

A driver’s FIRST check should be for pedestrians. You might wait a few seconds longer but nobody’s going to die

In the past week, I’ve seen four drivers blow through flashing pedestrian lights. It’s terrifying to stop for the light, see a pedestrian step into the crosswalk, and then gape in helpless disbelief as some clown roars through right beside your car. If the pedestrian manages to stop walking, it’s largely because they have the sense to NOT be looking at their cellphone.

I’m writing this now in a moment of outrage after witnessing a near-tragedy Tuesday evening. We were waiting behind a car that was signalling a left turn from 29th Avenue S.W. onto northbound 14th Street. This is a tricky corner near restaurants.

Turning left at a busy time invites a long wait for traffic to clear. Traffic was solid both ways. The driver ahead of us had no chance for a left turn.

We could feel this person getting impatient from the jerky movement of the vehicle (a red SUV — you know who you are). Then the crosswalk light to our left started flashing. Traffic stopped both ways.

A girl of about 12, facing us, stepped into the intersection to cross 14th Street. The driver instantly surged forward and cut a hard left turn right in front of the girl. The vehicle was accelerating so fast there was no chance to brake or swerve.

This was a racing turn. The girl, shocked, managed to jump back. If she’d been one step further into the crossing, she would be dead.

Thank heaven that child was alert and agile. Did the driver see the girl and do that anyway? It’s hard to know for sure, but I’d say yes.

Crossing lights don’t just start themselves. The driver surely knew traffic stopped for a pedestrian. It’s possible, of course, that this jerk was checking the phone, paying only intermittent attention.

In either case, that child had to save herself. Related Why 'preventable' pedestrian deaths are climbing in Calgary — and what's being done about it City council looking for solutions following pedestrian fatalities My first thought was — thank heaven she wasn’t looking at her phone. So many young people — and some not so young — are a danger to themselves.

Glued to their screens, they stroll through crosswalks with no sense of what’s happening around them. They trust the drivers. In Calgary, that’s betting with your life.

This is a plague of the cellphone era. Before the devices arrived, did people cross the street reading a book? The most common threat to pedestrians is still the driver who starts a left turn before checking to see if anyone’s in the crosswalk.

It usually happens when drivers force the turn against oncoming vehicles. They’re focused on cars, not humans. A driver’s FIRST check should be for pedestrians.

You might wait a few seconds longer but nobody’s going to die. My wife and I were almost hit by one of these drivers a while ago. If we’d been gazing at our phones, that was it, no more books or columns.

In the city centre, some people deep in addictions pay no attention to stop lights or crosswalks. They often dart into the street in mid-block with no regard for their safety, as if they’re inviting an end to it all. That’s terribly sad.

Motorists need to be patient — and very careful. I’m not against cellphones. I’m a heavy user for work, research, sports and occasional Instagram scroll binges.

But they have their time and place, and it’s not on the sidewalks or crossings, or during social time with family and friends. One of the saddest modern sights is the parent scrolling and talking while their young children walk behind them. You see it in restaurants, coffee shops, summer ice cream parlours — kids fidgeting blankly as their parents talk and scroll, ignoring them.

Studies over the past decade show this damages child development. Kids need their parents engaged, not simply present. This was a rant, yes.

But I’m haunted by the sight of a child who was nearly killed by a thoughtless moron. Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Herald X and Bluesky : @DonBraid