I saw a woman get hit by a car today.  About quarter after 11 or so, on Water Street between Wisconsin and Michigan.  It's a fairly busy street, but this isn't New York or Chicago by any stretch.  I pretty much saw the whole thing---seemed like slow motion.  I was about a half a block away.  The driver of the car was not at fault.  This lady, probably late thirtys or so, tried to outrun the car.  She couldn't do it.  By the time I got to the accident scene, the police had been called, and a number of people were tending to the woman in the street.  The driver seemed to be somewhat upset, but there were people around him trying to calm him down.  I was drawn to a screaming woman on the sidewalk.  It was her friend who was hit. They were going across the street to get a cup of coffee--her friend said come on and took off, she stayed.  She says it happened so fast, yet I saw the whole thing develop and thought it took forever.  Soon the police and firefighters and rescue squad arrived.  It didn't look too good for the victim, but I can't say how she is.  I got a paramedics attention and let him try to calm down the friend, as I got on with my business.  All for a cup of coffee?

Seems that one of the first things we teach our kids is to look both ways before crossing the street.  The cross walk was 12 paces away to the corner for me (I counted).  Maybe 15 for her?  I don't know if this is a Milwaukee phenomenon or not.  I've spent the last two weekends in Minneapolis and St. Louis and don't recall people crossing against the lights or in midblock, but maybe I wasn't paying attention.  It used to seem to me it was just high schoolers and college kids who didn't seem to care or know better, but now it seems everyone around here just crosses as they please.   Sometimes I ask people why they are running in front of cars, or crossing against the lights.   Some of the answers include I'm in a hurry, everyone does it (everyone?), nobody cares, along with none of your business.  And it is none of my business, and I suppose I really don't care either.  But I asked a cop one time what would happen if I happened to hit someone crossing against the light or running through the traffic.  He told me to make sure I got a witness, and if I hit somebody in a situation like that it wouldn't be my fault.

I would imagine the woman I saw get hit today probably has some family, maybe somebody that is depending on her paycheck.  I hope she is alright.  And I hope people take just a little time to think about some of this stuff before they attempt it.  You are (probably) not as fast as you think you are.  You are not tougher than steel.  You also are probably not in that big of a hurry.  And although it may not be any of my business, I'm pretty sure it's the business of your family and friends, the guy that hit you, the police, the hospital, probably the lawyer you are going to get, your employer, and all the people you inconvienced while the road was shut down.  Let's try and be just a little bit saner out there.