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交通無法地帯のニューヨーク
ニューヨークの交差点では、横断歩道を歩行者が渡っていても、車は強引に通り抜けます。もし車がきちんと停車しようものなら、歩行者は感謝感激し、ほかの車はクラクションを鳴らしまくります。どうにかしようと市長は対応に乗り出したのですが…
The Signs Are Posted, Will Drivers See Them?
By BOB YAMPOLSKY
One of the many fond memories I have of Japan is this: walking across streets — even busy city streets — in peace. I am not being facetious when I say this. I mean that it is so nice the way that drivers making a turn at an intersection will, without fail, let pedestrians cross the street first.
I appreciate such things because I am a New Yorker. New York drivers are supposed to stop and let the people cross. That, after all, is what our sign for this month says: "YIELD TO PEDESTRIAN IN CROSSWALK." But New York drivers don't yield to pedestrians. They do not yield because to yield would be to perform a civil, courteous act, which is not allowed on the streets of New York.
To be honest, I am not a great fan of this sign, though I support the message that it carries. For starters, I don't like that singular "pedestrian." When you're speaking generally, you should use the plural. Everyone knows that. But what I like even less about the sign is its modesty. It's too tentative, almost as if it's asking to be ignored: "I'm not a very important sign; you don't have to look at me."
Actually, I don't think it would be accurate to say that New York drivers ignore this sign. I think it would be more accurate to say that New York drivers do not even know it exists. It's reached such a point that when a car making a turn at an intersection actually does come to a full stop to allow people to cross, you'll see a funny sight: pedestrians so surprised and touched that their faces brighten and they raise a hand in salutation, meaning "Thank you, thank you so much."
Another thing you'll sometimes see is the driver of a car that has stopped, motioning impatiently — meaning "I'm letting you cross, so hurry up" — as if he were performing some act of tremendous generosity, instead of simply obeying the law. Even at this, pedestrians wave in gratitude.
But most of the time one of two things happens. Either the people crossing the street are spaced widely enough that the car making a turn at the intersection shoots through an opening among them; or else, if the stream of pedestrians is too thick to shoot through, a car will slow to a crawl, and slowly edge its way across the crosswalk. Needless to say, pedestrians have to stop and wait, both for the first car and for all the other cars that follow it through the breached wall of people.
If a car actually does stop, or just takes too long to get across the crosswalk, the horns of the cars behind it start blaring: "What are you waiting for? Go!"
A couple of weeks ago, on my way to work, I saw a man yelling at the driver of a van that had cut in front of him in a crosswalk. I like people who yell at drivers — the little guy sticking up for his rights — and so when I caught up with him on the pedestrian island in the middle of the avenue, I said, "What an idiot," meaning the driver.
"He almost killed me," the guy said, somewhat in exaggeration. And as we both cast nasty looks at the back of the van, we had the satisfaction of actually seeing a policeman signal the driver to pull over. And we both looked on in wonder as the policeman began the process of writing a ticket.
This was the first time in my life that I had seen a car pulled over for this offense. I was shocked: This is New York. People don't get tickets for something like that. But this is the new New York, where even jaywalkers are ticketed. It turns out that what we saw was part of Mayor Rudy Giuliani's three days of "zero tolerance." For three days police throughout the city actually enforced the traffic laws that drivers routinely ignore.
The mayor had announced his intention to crack down on speeding and other traffic violations a couple of months earlier. He was, as usual, greeted with skepticism: New York drivers obeying traffic laws? Get serious! And it didn't help his cause when, soon after his announcement, a newspaper reporter with a radar gun clocked the mayor's limousine going well above the speed limit. But those three days of zero tolerance seem to have convinced a number of skeptics that the mayor is quite serious about making the roadways safer.
Is it possible to get New Yorkers to be courteous, well-mannered drivers? I doubt it. But even if New York drivers began noticing a few more of the signs posted on the streets, I think it would be a very good thing.
One of the many fond memories I have of Japan is this: walking across streets — even busy city streets — in peace. I am not being facetious when I say this. I mean that it is so nice the way that drivers making a turn at an intersection will, without fail, let pedestrians cross the street first.
I appreciate such things because I am a New Yorker. New York drivers are supposed to stop and let the people cross. That, after all, is what our sign for this month says: "YIELD TO PEDESTRIAN IN CROSSWALK." But New York drivers don't yield to pedestrians. They do not yield because to yield would be to perform a civil, courteous act, which is not allowed on the streets of New York.
To be honest, I am not a great fan of this sign, though I support the message that it carries. For starters, I don't like that singular "pedestrian." When you're speaking generally, you should use the plural. Everyone knows that. But what I like even less about the sign is its modesty. It's too tentative, almost as if it's asking to be ignored: "I'm not a very important sign; you don't have to look at me."
Actually, I don't think it would be accurate to say that New York drivers ignore this sign. I think it would be more accurate to say that New York drivers do not even know it exists. It's reached such a point that when a car making a turn at an intersection actually does come to a full stop to allow people to cross, you'll see a funny sight: pedestrians so surprised and touched that their faces brighten and they raise a hand in salutation, meaning "Thank you, thank you so much."
Another thing you'll sometimes see is the driver of a car that has stopped, motioning impatiently — meaning "I'm letting you cross, so hurry up" — as if he were performing some act of tremendous generosity, instead of simply obeying the law. Even at this, pedestrians wave in gratitude.
But most of the time one of two things happens. Either the people crossing the street are spaced widely enough that the car making a turn at the intersection shoots through an opening among them; or else, if the stream of pedestrians is too thick to shoot through, a car will slow to a crawl, and slowly edge its way across the crosswalk. Needless to say, pedestrians have to stop and wait, both for the first car and for all the other cars that follow it through the breached wall of people.
If a car actually does stop, or just takes too long to get across the crosswalk, the horns of the cars behind it start blaring: "What are you waiting for? Go!"
A couple of weeks ago, on my way to work, I saw a man yelling at the driver of a van that had cut in front of him in a crosswalk. I like people who yell at drivers — the little guy sticking up for his rights — and so when I caught up with him on the pedestrian island in the middle of the avenue, I said, "What an idiot," meaning the driver.
"He almost killed me," the guy said, somewhat in exaggeration. And as we both cast nasty looks at the back of the van, we had the satisfaction of actually seeing a policeman signal the driver to pull over. And we both looked on in wonder as the policeman began the process of writing a ticket.
This was the first time in my life that I had seen a car pulled over for this offense. I was shocked: This is New York. People don't get tickets for something like that. But this is the new New York, where even jaywalkers are ticketed. It turns out that what we saw was part of Mayor Rudy Giuliani's three days of "zero tolerance." For three days police throughout the city actually enforced the traffic laws that drivers routinely ignore.
The mayor had announced his intention to crack down on speeding and other traffic violations a couple of months earlier. He was, as usual, greeted with skepticism: New York drivers obeying traffic laws? Get serious! And it didn't help his cause when, soon after his announcement, a newspaper reporter with a radar gun clocked the mayor's limousine going well above the speed limit. But those three days of zero tolerance seem to have convinced a number of skeptics that the mayor is quite serious about making the roadways safer.
Is it possible to get New Yorkers to be courteous, well-mannered drivers? I doubt it. But even if New York drivers began noticing a few more of the signs posted on the streets, I think it would be a very good thing.
Shukan ST: April 24, 1998
(C) All rights reserved
- fond memories
- 良い思い出
- facetious
- ひょうきんな
- intersection
- 交差点
- without fail
- 絶対に
- pedestrians
- 歩行者
- appreciate
- よさが分かる
- YIELD
- 道をゆずれ
- civil, courteous act
- 丁寧で礼儀正しい行為
-
- For starters
- まず第一に
- When you're speaking generally
- 一般的な言い方をする場合は
- plural
- 複数形
- modesty
- 控えめな点
- tentative
- ためらいがちな
- as if it's asking to be ignored
- 無視してくれといわんばかりの
- come to a full stop
- ちゃんと停止する
- touched
- 感動する
- raise a hand in salutation
- 手を挙げて挨拶する
- motioning impatiently
- じれったそうなそぶりをして
- tremendous generosity
- ものすごい親切
- in gratitude
- 感謝して
- shoots through an opening among 〜
- 〜 の間を走り抜ける
- slow to a crawl
- 速度を落としノロノロ運転になる
- edge its way
- じりじり進む
- breached wall of people
- 分断された人波
- horns
- クラクション
- start blaring
- 鳴り始める
- had cut in front of him in a crosswalk
- 横断歩道で前に割り込んだ
- the little guy sticking up for his rights
- ちっぽけな人間が自分の権利を守ろうとがんばる
- caught up with 〜
- 〜 に追いついた
- pedestrian island
- 歩行者用の中央分離帯
- idiot
- ばか者
- somewhat in exaggeration
- いささか大げさに
- cast nasty looks
- にらんだ
- signal 〜 to 〜 〜
- 〜 に 〜 〜 するよう合図する
- pull over
- 停車する
- in wonder
- あぜんとして
- writing a ticket
- 交通違反切符を切る
- offense
- 違反
- even jaywalkers are ticketed
- 信号無視の歩行者ですら違反切符を切られる
- It turns out that 〜
- 〜 なことが明らかになる
- Mayor Rudy Giuliani's three days of "zero tolerance"
- ジュリアーニ市長が3日間行なった道路交通法の徹底策("zero tolerance" は「目こぼしなし」の意)
- enforced
- (道交法を)守らせた
- routinely
- 決まって
- crack down on 〜
- 〜 を厳重に取り締まる。
- (was)greeted with skepticism
- 不信の念で迎えられた
- it didn't help his cause when 〜
- 〜 のため彼の運動は足を引っ張られた
- newspaper reporter with a radar gun clocked the mayor's limousine going well above the speed limit
- 新聞記者が制限速度をはるかに超えて走っている市長のリムジンをレーダーガンで計測した
- skeptics
- 疑い深い人