Watch out for each other during this busy season

THE YOUNG MOTHER grips her child’s hand firmly and makes a run for the sidewalk, unnerved by the driver who was so eager to make a left turn that he almost hit them.

Farther down the road, a more careful motorist struggles to regain his composure. Two bicyclists just swept into his path without looking for oncoming traffic, causing him to swerve and apply his brakes.

Meanwhile, at another corner, an elderly man freezes as he realizes a driver is ignoring the “no turn on red” sign. She’s not stopping. She’s not even slowing down as she smiles and chats on her cell phone. She doesn’t notice the elderly man in the street, who leaps to the curb with an alacrity he hasn’t used since he practiced the long jump in high school.

Welcome to the holiday season, when the average area resident has more errands to run, more places to go and, consequently, less patience than at other times of the year. Add to the mix the extra hours of darkness and the greater likelihood of snow and ice, and collisions seem as inevitable as robins flying South and carols playing endlessly on the radio.

But all of us – driver or pedestrian, cyclist or bystander – can take steps to reduce the risks.

We can start by resolving to be alert – if that means no phone calls in transit, so be it – and imagining ourselves in the other person’s place. Then treat him or her the way we’d like to be treated.

Consider, for example, that Pennsylvania allows a right turn on red at many intersections, but not every single one.

Wilkes-Barre’s Public Square is one notable exception. But downtown employees are noticing more and more drivers who sail blithely past 1) the sets of double red lights, 2) the “no turn on red” signs, 3) the gleaming white pedestrian signal and 4) the chirping sound that lets sight-impaired people know it’s safe for them to cross. Or, rather, that it’s supposed to be safe.

Can you, the average-sighted motorist, imagine what it’s like to be a blind pedestrian, hearing a chirping sound that suggests you can safely cross a street, and then feeling a car rush past you as you step into the street with your cane?

Of course, walkers bear responsibility for their own safety as well, and the rules are common sense. Look both ways. Do not stroll into the path of oncoming cars. If there is a sidewalk, use it.

And, bicycle riders, there are rules you’re supposed to follow, including staying to the right of the road and obeying traffic signals. But the best way for some of you to start being more careful might be if you just stopped zigzagging across busy streets as if they were your personal playgrounds.