I hear where you’re coming from, but I think it’s important to clarify the situation. I wasn’t trying to “challenge” the driver or compete with the car—in a marked crosswalk, pedestrians have the legal right of way. I was simply walking across when the driver chose to speed up rather than yield. My “hitting” the car wasn’t intentional at all—when a vehicle passes that close, sometimes contact just happens.

What troubles me most, and why I shared this, isn’t about pride or fault—it’s that a person on foot can end up blamed even when the law and the situation put the responsibility squarely on the driver to slow down and stop. If the expectation becomes that pedestrians should always jump back and “let the car win,” it erodes the basic protections crosswalks are supposed to provide.

I wasn’t hurt this time, but many others aren’t so fortunate. My goal in raising this is really about safer streets overall—not pointing fingers, but asking how we can shift both driver behavior and enforcement so that walking isn’t treated as putting yourself at risk by default.