Mind Your Manners

Wow. Now there are barricades going up on Manners Street - I guess in an attempt to herd all of us sheep out there who still cant understand why it is we get hit by busses when we decide to cross the street without bothering to look. And who needs to look anyway? I mean, its only a dedicated two way bus lane in one of the busiest areas of the city. All you need to do is make a blind dash for it, and the rest will take care of itself.

In reaction to the mass stupidity and ensuing bloodshed over the last few weeks, bus drivers are now threatening to boycott the route. And I dont blame them. These guys are getting the raw end of the deal, having to dodge stray pedestrians who fling themselves onto the tarmac like lemmings. Someone likened the new lane to a bowling alley, and I think they were onto something, with all these human skittles around.
It must be a traumatic experience hitting someone with your big yellow bus, and I fully sympathise with the drivers. No one wants a lemming for a hood ornament, let alone the emotional stress that follows.

Not even the yellow tape, strung along the sidewalk in desperation, could deter these would-be lemmings, determined to flirt with death. No sir, tape is not going to stop them from crossing. Ducking under the tape or pulling it down completely has been the order of the day and still the stupidity continues. I'm waiting for another strike.

So with the situation now escalating as the number of hits and near misses racks up, the council and other stakeholders have decided to hold an emergency meeting, to discuss what could possibly be done to stop the spread of stupidity resolve the situation, before the bus drivers throw in the proverbial towel, and all that time and money gets wasted because the route has to be redirected somehow.

And walking to work, the outcome was obvious: hideously ugly barricades being bolted to the road side, like cattle gates, to ensure that the only people able to cross the road would be olympic hurdle jumpers and giraffe.

I am dismayed. Not only at how people can fail to look both ways before crossing a busy road, but also that everyone else has to put up with being treated like herded sheep. And whats more, the barricades are Absolutely Positively Ugly. Come on people. We deserve better than this.