It was weird because I got the same message in about 10 minutes of the other. I was in Mt. Vernon one night and went to buy from one of the liquor stores that has worked with the community (y’all need a sticker “neighborhood approved liquor store”) and as I leaving the proprietor said “Be safe.” I wished him the same and left. My fear in the city isn’t getting shot or mugged (and those things could happen) but rather getting hit with a car. I walk, I ride my bike and there are too many idiots running around with SUVs who can’t stay in their lane, dismiss traffic rules, and essentially can’t drive. That was running through my head when heading down 5th Street, by a notorious corner and one fellow standing on the street said hello and then “be safe.” Weird.
But things haven’t been that safe. On the Eckington listserv, this weekend, there is the story of the XM employee robbed. This week there have been a few shootings in Shaw. Just as I was hoping that things were starting to look up….
3 thoughts on “Be safe”
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Hi! It was nice to meet you in person on Sunday. Today I’m scanning all the blogs and reading a lot about crime and possibly random crimes. I think I would prefer to go back to thinking about nasty environmental exposures that cause people to get sick. I’ll email you later to ask about possibly spreading putty over the textured wall surface.
So, were you riding your bike down 5th St (south) or up (north) in the direction of the one way vehicular traffic flow? The latter is definitely safer than the former. As soon as we get some bike lanes on 6th & 7th Sts more cyclists will stop risking head on collisions to shave 2 min. off their commutes.
I was walking. But I do ride enough that traffic is the first thing when I think about being safe. I try (try) to ride with the flow of street traffic. I do go against traffic on that little bit of 4th Street in Mt. Vernon, going south. But when I do see a vechile I try to get on the crappy sidewalk or I just stop and get to the side.
If history has taught me anything, it is that we’re all gonna die. Of something. I would prefer one of those peaceful, in the bed kinds, not the squished under a SUV with some ditz at the wheel on a cell phone kind.