Victoria Sapientes Elegit the minimalist blog by syarif

On the way for dinner earlier today, I was listening to a traffic report on radio. There was a traffic light on a stretch of road in Penang that was broken, making it jam packed with vehicles. One reminder given by the reporter was for pedestrians was to "look left, right, and left again before crossing".

Now I'm not complaining to the fact that the reminder was given to the wrong crowd as most pedestrians prefer mp3 players - most probably without a radio tuner (note: and I absolutely would not encourage any pedestrian to walk and fill their ears with earphones while walking).

However I would like to address the crossing technique that the announcer had given. Look left, right and left again is not totally wrong. But it's an American concept that might not be as safe to be used here than in the US.

These are the safer crossing technique that I would like to share; the 5 Steps to Cross the Road.

First, STOP. Everyone needs time to properly scan the traffic before crossing. The most effective way to do it is by simply halting yourself first. Preferably, give yourself about 1 step away from the edge of the kerb or the road.

Second, LOOK. It's safer to look right first. As in Malaysia, the closest direction of vehicles (the closest lane) to you would be from your right (unless you're on a one-way street). Thus it's advisable to look to your right first, then left, then right again. If you're crossing near an intersection or roundabout for that matter, don't forget to look to your back. Vehicles could come out from the intersection unexpectedly.

Third is to LISTEN. This may be done with LOOK. Open up your ears for any signs of oncoming vehicles. Sometimes our eyes couldn't catch everything (peripheral vision limitations). So at least with our ears focused, hopefully we could catch some unexpected vehicles.

Fourth is to THINK whether it is save to cross or not. Most adult would do this together with LOOK and LISTEN. No problem there. So long that you USE your effing brains to select the proper crossing gap. Remember, when you haste, that's when crashes happen. Think properly before you cross.

And the last one; the fifth is to cross with coution. Remember that we're pedestrian. We're slower and have the least visibility factor to other road users. Most pedestrian related road crash happens when a pedestrian tries to cross a street- with hope that everyone can see him. You're wrong when you think that. Drivers have set their minds to lookout for vehicles. The limitations of our focus makes it too easy for pedestrians to be out of the picture. That's why there are also (a lot) of cases where pedestrians were knocked down on an empty street, in a broad daylight.

So there you have it. Just remember:
-Stop
-Look (right, left, right, behind)
-Listen
-Think
-Caution (while crossing)

More than 600 pedestrians are killed in Malaysia yearly.

Cross properly. Don't be in the statistics.

And of course USE THE EFFING CROSSING FACILITIES! They're there for good reasons. Drivers, please RESPECT the pedestrians. When the pelican light is green, your traffic light would be red. It's MANDATORY for you to stop.

No one has the greater rights on the road. Those that we have heard before are totally urban legends, except for police, emergency vehicles and a few other authorities.

Other than that, we're sharing the road. Be kind to one another.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device via Vodafone-Celcom Mobile.