This afternoon Etiquetteer nearly witnessed a collision between a cyclist and a pedestrian on a city street. Etiquetteer heard some sort of suspicious noise, turned around, and there across the street about 50 feet back a woman was sitting up in the street yelling "It's a crawswawk! It's a crawswawk!" while a man in cycling garb was standing over her and beginning to raise his voice, too. And indeed, the woman was sitting in a crosswalk at an intersection with a stoplight. The point of impact was about five feet from the sidewalk. As several others were going to the aid of the woman, Etiquetteer felt no need to become involved directly - too much help can be as bad as too little, and quite a cluster of people was starting to form - but Etiquetteer could picture a few different scenarios:
CYCLIST SCENARIO: While the woman was crossing the street during a red light, the cyclist, Master of the Universe, hit her, disregarding the rule "Share the road, share the red light."
PEDESTRIAN SCENARIO: With the blithe certainty exhibited by more than a few pedestrians that all vehicular traffic will stop whenever someone walks into a crosswalk regardless of signals or signs, the woman began crossing the street and was hit by the cyclist who actually had the right of way.
IDIOTS SCENARIO: Neither of them was looking where they were going, regardless of who had the right of way, and they are equally at fault.
Etiquetteer hopes that neither party sustained grievous injuries, but hopes that they, and you, will exhibit greater care on the streets. Because the moral of the story is, "Watch where you're going, whether you have the right of way or not."